Legacy family 1 Meet the relatives
by dampyria
Summary: Xander meets a new branch of the family. One that he actually likes.
1. Prologue 1

**LEGACY FAMILY 1 – MEET THE RELATIVES**

Author: Dampyria

Fandom: PtL / BtVS crossover

Summary: Xander meets a new branch of the family. One that he actually likes.

Rating: PG13

Paring: None yet

Spoilers: BtVS - season 3, Poltergeist the Legacy – season 1

Disclaimer**: **I do not own Poltergeist the Legacy or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

PROLOGUE

Xander changed his focus from the scenary to his quarreling parents. Even by Hellmouth standards what had happened to him this morning was surreal.

After pulling an all nighter with Buffy and Willow he had come home with only two things on his mind - a shower and a soft bed to dive into. But, as it turned out, he was denied both. He didn't even make it to the front lawn, when his parents burst out of the house, grabbed him and pushed him into the car.

So here he is. Kidnapped by his own parents on a Sunday morning – looking out of the car as they passed the sign 'You are now leaving Sunnydale' and having no clue what was going on.

His parents were still arguing about something or other when he dug up enough courage and reminded them of his presence: "What's going on? Where are we going?"

The banter stopped for a minute then his mother turned to look at him: "We have been invited to my aunts birthday party."

Xander frowned and tried to remember the mention of an aunt. There was uncle Roger, uncle Pete and uncle Simon. Nope, no aunt. Someone mentioned once or twice aunt Emily, but she was dead for nearly a decade. He just hoped that they weren't going to perform some weird voodoo ceremony to bring her back as a zombi, cause having to kill her in front of all the guests would be of the bad. Stopping that train of thought he entertained the notion of just how sick it was to seriously consider that as a possibility. He really needed a vacation. Maybe this trip was for the best.

"Fucking stuck-up bitch!" snarled his father.

Or maybe not.


	2. Prologue 2

**PROLOGUE 2**

**San Francisco – Angel Island**

Derek's heart almost stopped when he returned home. The Legacy house was in an uproar. There were dozens of people running around, fixing tables, flowers … was that a stage in his gala room?

And in the mist of them all was standing his mother. Like a proud general surveying and dictating orders. The light headache he was battling against all day suddenly threatened to transform into a slide going off in his head, eroding away at his sanity.

"Mother." He sighed.

"Oh Derek there you are. What do you thing of the set-up? Isn't it coming along great? The sitting arrangement is almost ready, and so are the flowers …."

"Mother!" he exclaimed this time with a little more force. "What are you doing? I thought that we agreed to a small party with family and close friends not a party for everyone living in the general San Francisco area."

Barbara Rayne took his arm and manhandled him out of the room and on to the balcony. "Dear, we said no such thing. We agree on family and close friends, and those are exactly the people that I invited."

"Mom if you wanted a big party why didn't you just organize it in the summer house? I believe it would be more suitable for this kind of occasion."

Barbara shook her head: "But then I wouldn't have the honor of your company! This way no matter what happens, you can't escape from me. Besides I wanted to learn more about the new Legacy member and her lovely daughter."

Derek's shoulders slumped and he sighed in defeat. "At least it will be all over tonight and tomorrow we can go back to normality"

"Well dear about that…"

Derek looked at her mothers innocent eyes and swore.


	3. Meeting the family

**CHAPTER 1**

Sunday night – Angel Island

Xander observed his parents from the back seat of their rental car with the morbid fascination of someone watching a train about to crash. He still couldn't phantom how they thought to pull it of.

Pretending to be well of – maybe, but behaving like a loving family? That was impossible. Taking aside the fact that his parents were nonfunctional drunks there was still the small mater of his father hating him, along with everybody else who didn't measure up to his 'standards'. Aye, a train crash ready to happen, and he was right in the middle of it. Oh joy!

Adjusting the collar of his new shirt Xander forced himself to image different ways this could play out without it being a total disaster. To his not-surprise he couldn't.

"Stop fidgeting boy!" snarled his father. "For once in your pathetic life try to act like a man and not the sorry excuse for a human being that you are, because I swear to God if you fuck this up there will be consequences. Did I make myself clear?"

Jessica put a soothing arm on his shoulder, "Dear this is not the time to upset him. We are almost there and it won't do us any good if we make a bad first impression."

Tony snorted, "There you go again, babying him. No wonder he grew up to be such a wuzz, but you are right this time. We have to be ready and have our game on."

This time it was Xander that wanted to snort, but kept his mouth shout. It wouldn't do him any good to antagonize his father.

To distract himself he looked out of the window and he couldn't restrain himself from whistling as the house, or more accurately the castle came into view. Mercyfull Zeus it was like someone took it right out of a fairy tale.

Tony stopped at the entrance gate where a guard politely asked for their invitation. Xander glanced ad the people standing there and his soldier senses went into override. The guards were military and armed but that wasn't what attracted his attention. It was the way they moved. While one was checking their credentials the other one was holding back, in a position where he had a clear view of all of them, hand on the gun.

There is paranoid, there is 'rich' people paranoid, then there is 'I am hiding something' paranoid. The soldier memories were willing to bet anything that in this case it was the third one.

The man at the gate validated their papers and waved them in. If the castle was impressive from the distance, it was breathtaking from up close. The old structure and the new additions were blending together perfectly without one taking over the other.

Xander whistled again: "Man! People actually live here?"

His father whirled around to give him another peace of mind no doubt, when his mother stopped him again. "Dear, aunt Barbara is here. Remember no scenes!"

Tony closed his eyes and tried to sculpture his expression in some semblance of a friendly facede while Jessica was already out of the car, hurrying to meet with her long extranged aunt.

While Jessica got reaquanted with Barbara the male portion of the family removed their luggage from the trunk of the car, then joint the two ladies on the staircase and waited for them to stop exchanging pleasingties.

Finally Jessica seemed to remember them as she turned around and introduced them: "Barbara do you remember my husband Tony?"

Barbara smiled and shook Tonys hand, "How can I not remember. You made quite an impression all those years ago. How do you do?"

Xander could practically hear the man's teeth ground against each other. Score one for the lady. Seems like aunt Barbara didn't like Tony all that much, which gained her a couple of points in his book.

As the man grunted out a somewhat polite response the two women turned their attention to him: "…and this is my son Alexander."

The old ladies eyes scaned him for a moment and she must have liked what she saw because she smiled at him and offered him her hand. "My what a handsome young man."

Xander smiled politely, "Nice to meet you mam."

"Oh none of that mam thing young man, you call me aunt Barbara, or just Barbara is fine," she said as she led him toward the house, leaving the others to follow. "We must get to know each other Alexander. I want to know everything there is to know about you."

Xander was at a loose. Normally relatives and his parents' friends just ignored him. This was the first time that someone had taken an active interest in him. It felt kind of good.

The boy smiled, "I would like that, but only if I get to know you to."

Her smile widened. "Charming too, but I am afraid that my curiosity will have to wait till the party starts. I am sure you all are very tired from the journey and would like to refresh and rest for a while.

Because of some renovations your rooms are on different sides of the house. Alexander, this is Frederick, he will accompany you to your room. If you have any questions or needs I am sure he will be more then happy to help you out. Jessica, Tony if you will follow me…"

His father shot him a last warning glance before hurrying to catch up with Jessica and Barbara.

Left alone with the butler Xander picked up his bag and waited further instruction.

"Master Alexander if you would please hand me the bag, I will show you to your room."

"Ahh.. it's okay it's not that heavy and please call me Xander."

"As you wish, Master Xander."

"No, just Xander"

"Of course Master Xander, if you would follow me."

Xander wanted to protest when a snicker stopped him. "It's no use, believe me. I tried to make him call me by my first name for years and he still persists to call me Master."

A young man in his mid twenties approached them and took Xanders bag. "Frederick I will take him to his room."

The butler inclined his head: "As you wish Master Nick."

A big smile splited Nicks face. "See what I mean? Come on let me show you the way."

Not even waiting for a reply Nick started jogging up the stairs two at the time. Xander immediately liked the other man. He was open, friendly and in a way reminded him of Jesse. In a totally not geeky way.

"So this is the room, as you can see there is a bed, a closet and through there is the bathroom. It's not big, but…"

"It's cool," said Xander. If he was honest with himself it was more then cool. The freaking room was bigger then his own and to both it all it had a private bathroom. It was like being in paradise. It had no TV, but he figured that in this place he could easily found something to keep him busy.

He took a few steps into the room and looked out of the window. "Wow! What a view!"

From where he was standing he could see the whole San Francisco bay, with its lights and boats. It was fantastic.

"Yeah it's quite breath taking. So you have any questions about tonight or later days?"

Xander looked at him with his best kicked-puppy eyes and asked: "Is it really necessary to wear a tie?"

Nick looked at the kids' expression and burst out laughing. "A men over my own heart!" Then turning serious for a moment he said, "Yes, it's obligatory," then he conspiratorially leaned toward Xander and whispered, "but only for the party. The rest of the week is casual wear."

"Casual as in jeans and t-shirt or casual," he wanted to make sure.

"Jeans and t-shirts are fine," smiled Nick. "The party starts at nine, till than you can rest in your room or go explore the house. Areas that are off limits are either clearly marked as such or are behind closed doors. So if there are no further questions…"

"Wait, why are there of limits areas?"

"Well part of this house is converted in a private museum. It's a small part of what we do in the Luna fundation."

"Ah, that explains the heavy security. What is the Luna foundation?"

"It's a charity organization whose funder is the Rayne family. What do you mean by heavy security?" frowned Nick. The security system that they employed was one of the best in the world, not only because it was state of the art, but also because if you weren't especially looking for it, it was virtually invisible.

"No nothing it's just that there are a lot of cameras around and stuff," back paddled Xander.

Nick was staring at him with new eyes like he was assessing potential risks. When confronted with Xanders confused eyes he let it go for the moment, plenty of time latter to dig around.

"Okay, if there are no other questions…."

"Just one. Can you point me to a phone. I would like to make a call."

"Sure, it's right dawn the stairs. So who are you calling?" asked Nick.

"Just a friend of mine, her name is Willow. I don't want her to worry."

"Oh she is that kind of friend," the other teased him.

An intense tomato red color engulfed Xanders face in seconds. "What!? No wait, it's not like that! She is my best friend since kindergarten; she's like a sister to me. We don't think of Willow that way, it's like incest. Just wrong!"

"Whoa there man. Try breathing, I heard it's good for your health," laughed Nick. "Here's the phone."

"Thanks, it's just that I didn't tell her that I will be gone and I don't want her to worry. Beside if I made her mad she can be downright scary."

"I hear you. Know a couple of girls like that myself. Anyway you better hurry with that call as to not make her angry." Nick turned to leave, but at the last moment stopped. "You know, if I didn't know better I would say that you protest too much."

Then Nick left, laughing like a fool, leaving behind a spluttering young man.

As soon as the heart stopped hammering in his chest and his thoughts cleared out enough so that he could form a concrete sentence, Xander dialed the number that he knew by heart since his nursery school days.

He waited but nobody picked it up so he tried calling Giles number. There the phone was picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Giles."

"…….."

"Yes it's me. Are the girls there?"

"…….."

"Hey, how is my favorite girl in the whole universe?"

"Xander! Where……. What ……!!!"

The boy shifted away the ear peace, winching. Willow might be quiet and shy, but when she got really mad she showed that she was a real red head, with fiery attitude and a pair of strong lungs.

"Wills calm down. I'm sorry I didn't let you know that I was gone. It was rather quick. We are visiting some relatives in San Francisco."

"……"

"No, I'm fine. Got all my fingers and toes. How are things on your end? You guys okay?"

"…..."

"Uh-hu. Listen I can't stay on the phone for to long, I just wanted you to know that I'm alive and that I will be back in a week. Call you again in a couple of days. Bye."

"Prezies!!!"

"Whoa there Buffy, why don't you try that again? I am not sure that the people on the other end of the castle heard you. But I will return bearing gifts from the distant land. I promise."

Xander put down the receiver with a big smile on his face.

"You know that they will spend the next two days wondering about the castle, don't you?"

Xander turned and found himself face to face with a beautiful woman in her mid twenties – early thirties with brown eyes and a big friendly smile.

"Then my evil plan is working perfectly!" he said grinning like a maniac, manning his hands together in a very villain like style.

Noticing that she has her hands full of old dusty Giles-variety books he said: "Hey can I help you with that?"

"No, there's no need. I can …."

Right then the books at the top of the pile started to drift down, succumbing to the gravity pull. Moving quickly Xander darted forward and caught them before they have time to touch the ground.

Smiling he turned to her and asked: "You were saying?"

"You know you don't have to look so smug about it." She huffed in mock annoyance. "Come on, follow me."

"Aye, aye captain," he saluted almost dropping the books.

"Right," he said blushing bright red at the almost disaster. "This way right?"

The woman cleared her throat. "Actually it's the other way."

"Right I knew that," said the teenager passing by. It was just like him. He managed to make a decent impression and then with a stupid stunt he blew it. The girl must think that he was an idiot. Speaking of idiots, he didn't even know her name. "By the way my name's Xander."

"Alex. Nice to meet you."

"So Alex what do you do here?" asked Xander trailing after her.

"A little bit of this and a little bit of that, but I am mainly a researcher."

"What do you research? I thought that the Luna Foundation was a charity organization?"

"Well yes, but we also do other thing. Like research history, retrieval of ancient artifacts and other things, hence I'm not a pure researcher but I do other stuff to."

"Cool. So the dusty books are your niche?" asked Xander trying to picture her as a female Giles and failing. "I have to tell you that I can't see you as a book worm."

"Oh no that is Philips area of expertise. I concentrate on computer searches"

While the conversation took place she was guiding him through the house. Finally they stopped in front of a massive wooden door that had an electrical lock on the side of it. Alex turned around and gave Xander the rest of the books and concentrated on the lock, punching in the numbers and waiting for the eye scan to begin.

"Wow that is some pretty nifty stuff," he exclaimed. "I never saw a retinal scan till now."

"Retinal scan?"

"Yeah you know the eye retina is like a finger print, no one has two identical ones and is also more difficult to full than a palm or thumb scan, unless you cut out someone eyes… which is all kinds of icky." Seeing her smiling at him he sighed, "Things that you already know. Sorry my inner geek got loose there for a moment. No worries, now it's once again securely gagged and tied up."

"You don't have to restrain him on my account. I think it's endearing," said Alex pushing the door open.

"Yeah but most girls find it geeky and not in a good way. If only I could… Holly shit!! We just entered one of Giles wet dreams!" he said dumping the books on the first available flat surface and adventuring deeper in the large room filled with all kinds of books neatly stocked on shelves, that run from wall to wall.

Skimming through the tittles he couldn't believe his eyes: "Waaah Giles would have kittens if he saw this! It's like Giles- Disney land in here. Hey is this written in Sumerian? And that? Is that Cuneiform writing?" he turned around and came face to face with a surprised looking Alex and another man that was standing close to her.

He was tall, taller than Nick, with brown hair and kind eyes, dressed all in black. It was strange since they were in the middle of summer and outside was like 40 degrees. Then he noted the collar and froze. A priest? What was a priest doing there?

For a few moments they were glued on the spot, watching each other then Alex seems to come out of her stupor and moved towards Xander.

"Xander this is Phillip our bookworm. Phillip this is Xander, he and his family will be staying here for a week as Barbaras guest."

The two nodded at each other.

"So Xander, not many kids your age are interested in ancient languages." remarked Phillip.

"I'm not. What made you think that?" asked the boy genuinely confused.

"Well you recognized Sumerian," supplied Alex.

"Oh no that was all Giles. He likes old books and since I stick with him a lot I was bound to pick something up sooner or later."

"Giles…Is that the same Giles that has wet dreams about my library?" teased Philip.

Xanders eyes went wide for a moment while his face went ghostly white then changed to cherry red in a matter of seconds.

"I…uhgg…ah…I …I didn't say that. I mean yes he would like this place since he is big on the book things and stuff but he wouldn't have we…Those kind of dreams cause he is British and very stuffy. Not that all British are stuffy because that would be generalization and that is of no good."

He paused to take a breath and then seeing as the other two were staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths he decided that he had made enough of an impression and opted for a fast retreat.

"I think that I better go get ready… for the party. That's tonight…in a couple of hours. Here. Okay, bye. See you latter."

Before any of them had time to react to the Willow/Xander special brand of babbling he was gone through the door and up the stairs leaving behind him two very flabbergasted people.

"That was a very interesting young man." commented Philip.

"That he is. But did you have to tease him like that? The poor boy almost fainted when he saw you were a priest."

"Sorry, I couldn't stop myself. He just reminded me of an overly active puppy. I just had to tease him. I couldn't help it." said Philip giving Alex a mischievous smile.

"Well now he is gone. And he is not wrong, the party is about to start. We better put these books on the shelves and get ready."

"Yeah," said Phillip getting to work. "By the way I hope your young friend finds his way to his room."

"He seems able to take care of himself."

"I am sure you are right."

_______________

On the other end of the castle Xander looked around in desperation. He had been in such a hurry getting out of there that he didn't even notice where he was going. Looking around the unknown place he whimpered: "Where the hell did I end up?"

THE PARTY

Xander stumbled down the stairs flustered and out of breath. He had wandered the stupid castle for close to half an hour before he run into Nick. Literally. The force of the impact sent him flying backwards and onto his ass.

"Umphh and Ouch"

"What are you doing here?" asked a surprised Nick and stretched his hand to help him up.

Xander grinned goofily and took the offered hand. "Well you know how you told me I could explore a little before the party? I decided to give it a try."

Nick returned the grin with one of his own: "And this is why you are wandering the basement?"

"Uhm you know I decided to go off the beaten path. Maybe discover a secret room or something."

"That soo. Well I think it's best if you cut the exploration short for now and go get ready. The party is about to started."

"Sure I was just heading back."

They stood there watching each other for a long minute. Chocolate eyes to hazel eyes. Unmoving. Finally Xander gave up and sighed: "You are going to make me ask aren't you?"

The others man face broke into a shit eating smile.

"Oh come on man!" pleaded Xander giving him his most pityfull face. The one reserved for Willow when he wanted 'help' with his homework. But Nick seemed a little harder to crack than his long time friend so he cracked it up a little.

Nick, still smiling, lifted his arms in the universal sign of surrender: "Okay, okay you win. Go down this corridor, at the end turn right, up the stairs, turn right again, fourth door on the left – it will lead you to the entrance of the house. From there you should make it to your room."

"Okay so right, stairs, right, fourth door. No sweat, exactly the way I wanted to go before you interrupted my walk. So see you at the party."

Nick watched the young man retreating back and couldn't help himself not to smile. The young man was just too funny to mess with.

When Xander disappeared around the corner Nick shook his head and headed in the opposite direction, toward the party. He was, after all, the head of security and as such he had to make sure that the guests were safe.

End of chapter one

What do you guys think? Should I post more?


	4. Meeting the family part 2

CHAPTER TWO

Xander lost too much time wandering around, by the time he took the shower and got ready he was well and truly late. The party hall was already full of people drinking and having fun.

Trying to be as inconspicuous as he could he entered the room and kipping to the shadows found himself a sweet spot where he could observe people and yet be invisible to them.

Sadly his plan didn't turn out to be so good. As soon as he settled in his spot and started to relax the massive form of his father approached him and grabbed his arm.

"Where the hell have you been!" he hissed through set teeth applying more pressure on the arm: "The old hag has been asking for you. I swear if you ruin this for me there will be hell to pay, boy!"

"Hey Xander everything okay?"

The two men turned and came face to face with Nick. His otherwise kind eyes had turned into a steely stare that was concentrated on one person - Harris senior. Tony, that at that point had his share of alcohol in his system, stared back, readying himself for a confrontation. Xander seeing the possibility of the evening going from bad to worse, since his father preferred to confront people with fists instead of talking, stepped in.

"No everything's cool. Dad just informed me that Barbara is looking for me."

Tony glanced distastefully at his son, huffed and left probably looking for his next drink. Xander just preyed that his father would be able to control himself at least for the night. He had just a couple of minutes to observe people but he had already spotted a couple of prominent politicians and businessman in the mix. This was so not a good evening to show everybody the Harris household routine.

"I see you managed to find your room after all," smirked Nick. "The way you were wandering the halls I thought you would get lost again on your way back."

"Hey, I'll have you know that I wasn't lost at all!"

"Yeah, yeah you were only exploring, seeking secret rooms and treasures."

"Exactly, my adventure spirit is comparable only to my love for the sweets." His eyes unfocused and a dreamy smile appeared on his face. "Uhmm twinkies.."

A firm hand on his shoulder brought him out of his daydream. Startled he looked up and was confronted with Nicks now serious expression. The intention of the gaze almost made him steep back from the other man.

"Are you okay?" asked Nick.

Xanders breathe cough. He had a pretty good idea where that conversation was going and he really didn't want to have it here and now, or ever.

"What do you mean?" he stalled.

"Your father…"

"Yes you are right. He said that Aunt Barbara wanted to talk to me. I better be going, I don't want to make her wait."

Before Nick could replay Xander was at the other side of the room whisking Barbara away from what appeared to be a boring conversation. The boy cast a quick glance back at Nick only to look away when he notice the others intense gaze. Those eyes carried a strong and simple message – the conversation is not over yet.

Not wanting to dwell on the future he took Barbaras hand to his elbow and guided her away from the crowd, concentrating on what she was saying: "Thank you dear. Abigail is a sweet lady but another minute with her incessant babbling and I was gonna go deaf."

"It was my pleasure. I live to save beautiful ladies in need of help."

When she didn't respond to his flirtation he stopped walking and looked back at her. She was studying him with an intensity that made him uneasy. It was like she was gazing directly into his soul. The gaze felt like the ones that Willow would give him when she would search for a way to manipulate him into doing his homework; only this one was backed up with years and years of practice.

"Ms. Rayne?" he asked confused and, to tell the truth, a little scared.

She scanned him one last time before seemingly reaching her conclusion and smiled at him.

"Do you now? You are a real knight in shining armor, helping the damsels in distress, Alexander."

Xander flinched at her words. They brought too many unpleasant memories to the surface. Memories of Angelus, hospitals and his own inability to protect what was precious to him.

"I wouldn't say that. Normally I am the one that is saved by the before mentioned damsels, not to mention that any one of them could kick my ass if they wanted to."

"I am sure you are exaggerating Alex."

"No believe me I am not. And if I have to call you Barbara can I ask you to call me Xander? It's what everybody calls me since I was five."

"How original. Very well then, Xander it is. This should prevent any misunderstandings with Alex. Have you met her?"

"Yeah, she is a researcher here, isn't she?" asked Xander.

"Among other things. Tell me Xander, you are about to graduate from high school. What are your plans for the future?"

'Here it goes.' thought Xander. He really liked Barbara and he didn't want to show her what a looser he was. She probably expected A's and a brilliant athlete. Instead she will get a social outcast with low grades and sports impaired.

"Well I thought to go on a road trip after graduation. See all the states, maybe the grand canyon. They say it's magnificent, with all the colors, magnitude and …stuff….You ever been there?"

Barbara smiled indulgently at him. She knew perfectly what he was trying to do and she wouldn't let him.

"Why yes, it's truly breathtaking. But that's not what I was asking Xander. Did you choose a University yet?"

He let out a defeated sigh: "No, I think I am going to find a job when I get back. I was never a book person. You know I always liked the more practical approach to things then the theoretical."

"I see. Well to everyone its own. If you are good with your hands you should work with your hands," said Barbara smiling.

Xander responded with a smile of his own. Only his was a little forced. He didn't understand it. He should be happy that she hadn't automatically put him in the looser box, but he wasn't. Was that really him? Was that all that he would always amount to - work wise? The hesitant smile turned into a frown. He turned his head so that Barbara couldn't see it, but he was too late. A pleased smile touched her face just for a second before disappearing.

"So Xander, what do you think of this party of mine?"

Happy that she changed the subject and hoping that she didn't return to it, he launched in an animated chatter.

The rest of the party went by without major dramas, which in Xanders opinion was a miracle seeing the number of drinks his father ingested. There were a couple of heated exchanges but it never degenerated to a real fight. It seemed that his father could exert a certain degree of self control if he really wanted to and judging from his behavior he was really trying to make a good impression.

Sadly his definition of good behavior and that of the rest of the world didn't exactly mach. He noticed that Nick in several occasion left his post and ventured toward his father in case the argument went out of hand. Luckily it never did and the night was concluded with the last toast to Barbara before everyone went home, or in the case of the Harris family, to bed.

The next morning Xander was the first to wake up. Truth be told he didn't sleep all that well. Don't get him wrong the bed was very comfortable and the room was pleasantly warm. It was just…there was something wrong with the place. When they arrived he didn't notice it because of all the excitement, but latter lying on the bed, he felt it. He couldn't place it, but it was there and it was bothering the hell out of him.

So, after a sleepless night, he got up at five-thirty, got dressed and then snuck into the kitchen where he ate a piece of bred and drank some juice. Afraid that he would disturb the others he left the house and set on the outdoor steps that led to the main entrance and just enjoyed the early morning air.

Closing his eyes he concentrated on the sensation that kept him awake throughout the night. It was still there, only a little less pronounced. It wasn't like he was a psychic or something, but living all his life on a Hellmouth had equipped him with a sort of radar for the supernatural. He didn't believe that he would have been even able to feel it if it wasn't that for the past three years he had been actively involved with the 'go bump into the night' stuff.

It was like a six pack, or muscular arms, you had to exercise to develop it and since he met Buffy he exercised a lot. Mostly in running, true but he liked to believe that he had a little part too in the saving of the earth deal.

The door behind him opened and Xander looked over his shoulder to see Nick jogging down the stairs. He wasn't all that surprised that Nick was an early riser. All military men were. Hell since the Halloween party so was he, although not that early normally.

"Hey there kid. You up early." said Nick as he came to a stop next to him.

"Right back at you," replied Xander, then noticing the others attire, he frowned: "Isn't a little early to go running? Or are you one of those running nuts, that come rain or high water, had to go out? Not that there's something wrong with it. Running I mean. A lot of people jog everyday… and please stop me before I dig myself deeper."

Nick smiled. He couldn't help it. The kid was just too easy, even when he didn't try to make him uncomfortable. He got himself in those situations all by himself. The funny part was that if he stood quiet after his first sentence nobody would have spared a second thought to it. But as it was he just drew more attention to it. It was probably a case of insecurity and low self-esteem. His smile fell as he envisioned one of the most probable sources for the boys' insecurities.

Xander caught on the change of atmosphere and stood up ready to fly the scene. However Nick's next words stopped him in his tracks.

"Hey do you want to accompany me?"

Xander eyes almost jumped out. "What?"

"Would you like to go running with me? I see that you are already dressed for it."

"I… uhm no, thank you but I don't like to run when my life doesn't depend on it."

Even if Nick didn't like the sound of that he faked a smile and playfully grabbed Xander for the scalp and guided him to the end of the steps.

"Come on it's gonna be fun," grinned Nick already dragging him on a well traveled path.

"Yeah, yeah the last famous words." mumbled Xander as he unwillingly followed the other man.

Twenty minutes later Xander was asking himself who the hell made him do it. True hunting vampires and assorted baddies required a lot of running, lots of which was for his life, but he didn't have to keep it up for more then a couple of minutes, as usually Buffy came to the rescue or something else intervene. This, this was just torture. His lungs were in flames, his breath was short and he felt like he was gonna puke sooner then later.

Just as he was intending to stop and beg for mercy Nick slowed his running to a fast walk. Xander wanted to cry for the joy, that's if he had some energy to spear. As it was he just took the gift and didn't look into the horse's mouth which he should have considering his past experiences with gifts.

A couple of minutes later Nick slowed down and Xander caught up with him, walking side by side. Nick's face was serous and closed, his jaw set. Xander was getting a bad felling about that.

"So did you get in touch with your friend last night?" he asked.

Xander was taken aback for a moment. He didn't expect that question which made him only more suspicious.

"Yeah we talked."

"That's good."

They walked some more without talking. Xander was becoming increasingly more agitated. If the ex-soldier wanted to talk he was taking his sweet time in breaching the topic. In a normal situation Xander would be pacing right about now but since he was already walking all he could do was to increase his speed.

"Hey, Xander! Slow down!" called Nick, effortlessly matching his pace. "Where's the fire?"

"Don't want …. to slow ….. you down," explained Xander, between ragged breaths.

"Really?" asked Nick amused. "Cause I could swear that you are trying to avoid me."

When the only reaction he got from that was Xander stubbornly setting his jaw and increasing the jog, he had enough. He grabbed the boy's arm with the intention to stop him from running but then something unexpected happened.

Xander turned around and with the precision of a snake stuck out with his free hand, going straight for his neck, while the other hand, taking advantage of the surprise, liberated itself and was ready to strike Nick on the face.

The only thing that saved Nick from a broken nose was his military training. Instead of going for the arm around his throat he blocked the fist that was approaching his face and then with a practiced move twisted Xanders arm so that he had to released his throat and turn around, completely immobilized. Nick waited a couple of seconds to make sure that Xander won't attack him again and then he let him go.

He needn't worry about that. When Xander faced him again he was pale like a ghost and his eyes were huge with fright. It was obvious that he hasn't had any intention to attack him. Xander was only responding to an unexpected touch which caused a new wave of anger to surge through Nick.

"I… I am sorry. I didn't mean to attack you like that. It was just that I didn't expect you to grab me like that. You must think that I am some kind of psycho, but I am not and I wish that I could prove to you that …"

"Xander stop!" commanded Nick a little too forcefully then he intended, but it seems to do the trick. The boy stopped babbling, all right, but now he was looking at him like he was expecting a punch or something.

"Look Xander it wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have grabbed you like that without warning. Are you okay?"

"Am I okay? I don't know if it escaped you but I was the one that attacked you. If you hadn't stopped me with that fancy move of yours I would have hurt you."

"But I have stopped you and no one was hurt," he took a moment to collect his thoughts and Xander knew what was coming next, what he had been trying to avoid since last night. The talk.

"Xander yesterday I noticed something when your father approached you. The way he spoke to you made me suspicious and the way you reacted to me right now only made me more certain that he is not the best of fathers."

Nick stopped and looked at him trying to gauge his reaction. Xander really didn't know what to say or do. He never found himself in the position to have to explain his home life. Not even to Willow. She was sweet and smart, but by the time she was old enough to understand what was going on with him, he had already become a master in hiding bruises and welts.

And now here he was standing in front of a virtual stranger, trying to come up with a satisfying answer that didn't put his father in a spotlight or expose his nightly activities with the Scooby gang.

Even when he knew this was coming he didn't really consider it a possibility in his mind. People never talk about stuff like that. It was taboo. Like talking about your parents having a sex life or your uncles jail time.

He thought for a minute to tell him off, Nick through seemed serious about it and unlikely to drop the subject. In fact he had a feeling that if he didn't reassure him, Nick would start to dig deeper and maybe found something that he shouldn't. Running through all possibilities he opted for a half truth that he hoped would satisfy the other man.

"Yeah it's true, my father isn't all that great, but he isn't the worst either. On the scale from 1 to 10, 1 being the worst father possible and 5 being the norm I would give him 3,5 points. So you see it's not that bad."

"Xander your reaction…"

"Has nothing to do with my father. Some time ago I was mugged. When the tugs found out that I didn't have any money they decided to have some fun with me. They beat me up pretty good and if my friends hadn't arrived when they did I don't know what would have happened," he smiled a little. "I guess I am not all that good when it comes to fighting." He finished, looking at Nick for a reaction, much the same way Nick had looked at him only a few minutes ago, silently praying that the ex-soldier believed him.

"Xander…" he sighed.

"Look the point is that the worst is over has been for some time. It doesn't matter anymore what kind of father he has been, this year I turn eighteen and I intent to move out of that house. End of story," concluded Xander starting to move away only to stop after a couple of steps and turn around: "Oh and I would really appreciate if this conversation stayed between us. No point in upsetting the others with old stories that no one is interested in hearing anyway."

Nick stared at the kid for a moment in wonder. One moment he was talking to a scared teenager next to a man sure of himself and what he wanted. He practically ordered him to keep his mouth shut.

Some of his thought must have shown on his face because the scared kid was back full force:

"Uhm Nick you still in there?"

"Yeah, don't worry I won't tell, unless I think it's absolutely necessary."

Xander bowed his head in relief. "Thank you." He murmured then as if nothing happened smiled a 1000 dollar smile and started to run.

"Hurry up Nick, it's already late. You are going to get scolded for being late for work!" and just like that he was gone swallowed by the forest.

Nick shook his head. The kid changes his moods and personalities easier than a person affected by MPD. Than the words sunk in and he looked at his watch: "Son of a bitch!" he cursed. Who knew it was already this late.

As it turned out, after yesterdays party nobody was up yet. While Xander decided to take a shower Nick entered the command room and decided to do a little digging. He had promised Xander that he wouldn't share their conversation with anyone, that didn't mean he couldn't try and found out more about him. Thanks to the Legacy connections he accessed the files of one Alexander L. Harris. School records, medical records and police records.

With painstaking precision he navigated through the files taking what was relevant and ignored the rest. Piece by piece he reconstructed the boy's life, from his very first steps to the present day. After more then two hours he had a pretty good picture of what his life had been like and he didn't like it one bit.

Sighing he saved the research to his password protected files and deleted it from the main computer so no one could see it. Just as he was finished Derek entered the room with a sour expression on his face.

"Everything okay, boss?" asked Nick.

"No, everything is not okay. Those, those people… I wonder what my mother is plotting."

"What do you mean by plotting?"

"Jessica left this house almost eighteen year ago and she never came back, not even for a short visit. I am not sure what was going on at the time, I am guessing it has something to do with her boyfriend – well husband now. There was a big fight and Jess left with Tony."

"So she wanted to be reunited with her niece. I don't see anything strange in it."

"You don't know my mother. If she wanted to be reunited with Jessica she would ask her to dinner, not invite the entire family for her birthday and insisted that they stay for the week. Here. At the Legacy house. Something is definitely cooking."

Nick leaned back on the chair, hooking his arms behind his neck, looking pensive.

"Maybe you are right," he said, than changing the subject he grinned at Derek. "So I take it you don't like our new guests?"

"Tony is impossible. He is acting like he owns this house and treats everyone as his inferior. Anybody outside of mom and me of course. It's blatantly clear that he wants something from us. Most likely money. The sad thing is that Jess doesn't argue with him. She just docilely follows him around. This is not the girl that I remember from all that time ago. The girl in my memory was funny and full of life. If she didn't like something she wasn't afraid to express herself. The woman that stood before me this morning wasn't even a shadow of herself."

He shook his head. "I just don't know what happened but I would bet you anything that Tony has something to do with it. Why don't you check him out? See what he has been doing these past years."

"On it boss."

"But first why don't you go take a shower? I think that you dearly need one," and with this parting shot he left the room leaving a slightly embarrassed Nick behind.

After the shower Xander stayed in his room for as long as he could, delaying for as long as he could the meeting with his parents. He really didn't want to spend time with them, but on the other hand he couldn't leave the Rayne's in their hands either. There was a brief battle between what he wanted and what he should do in which the voice of duty came up victorious. He dressed up in the new clothes that they got on the way here, raced down the stairs and almost run over Derek, who was entering the room.

"Whoa…" exclaimed Xander trying to regain his balance and at the same time avoiding the collision with the older man. No easy task when you are flying down the stairs. For a moment he lost contact with the ground and right when he prepared himself for the impact, strong hands grabbed his arm and stabilized him.

When able to stay on his own feet, Xander raised his gaze to meet with the older mans severe look.

"Uhh thank you," said Xander a little intimidated by the other man. "I am Xander."

Finally the man smiled. "So you are Jess son. I heard a lot about you. I'm Derek Rayne, Barbara's son."

"So this is your house. It's really beautiful; it must be nice living here. I wanted to thank you for letting us stay here."

"You are welcome."

"Have you, maybe, seen my parents?"

"Yes they are in the sitting room."

When Xander didn't move Derek lifted an eyebrow in questioning manner.

"Could you, maybe, point me in the direction of the sitting room?" asked Xander embarrassed.

Derek did all that he could to stop himself from smiling. "Of course, it's through that door, to the left. We wouldn't want a repeat of yesterday now would we?"

"What…?" asked Xander confused and then he remembered his meeting with Nick. "I so wasn't lost! I told Nick that I was just exploring the house."

"Yes of course you were," and this time he was smiling. "Well mister Harris, it was nice meeting you," said Derek and extended his hand.

"Please call me Xander," grimaced the boy taking the offered hand.

As soon as skin hit skin a jolt of energy passed from Xander to Derek and a second later the vision hit.

~ vampires attacking some kids ~~

~ loud music, looking at a boys face ~~

~ face turning to a vampire mask ~~

~ boy crumbling to dust ~~

~ a face of a very old vampire ….~~

Abruptly the vision ended and Derek found himself looking at a scared kid, hugging himself, half for comfort, half for protection. He himself was a little shocked. It never happened before that someone was able to disconnect the vision he was having. Not ghost, vampires or demons, much less a high school kid.

He started to say something but Xander preceded him: "I better go find my parents," and then he was gone before he could stop him.

Derek watched the retreating back confused and more then a little intrigued. It was time to have a little heart to heart with his mother.

Xander beat a hasty retreat. He didn't know what was going on but as soon as he touched Dereks hand he felt some kind of energy, similar to the one emitted by Willow during her spells. It was enough to freak him out. What kind of magic was Derek into? Was he trying to probe his mind, like in those old movies?

He cursed silently.

Of course he couldn't have a normal family! What was he thinking? Even away from the hellmouth he was still fates butt-monkey. He would have to call Giles, as soon as possible. Maybe he knew something about this Derek Rayne….wait Rayne? As in Ethan Rayne?

Xander stopped dead in his tracks.

"No it can't be" he whispered. Than remembering some of the highlights of his life, he began to bang his head on the nearest wall. "Of course it can be! This is my life we are talking about."

After a couple of seconds spent making friends with the wall he remembered what he intended to do before this new drama hit him.

Looking around the unfamiliar place he realized that he had done it again. Turning around he tried to remember where he had come from and then retrace his steps.

As it turned out he needn't worry about finding his parents. Soon after he turned back he heard his fathers booming voice and then his laugh. It was obvious that he was telling one of his jokes that nobody outside himself understood.

Taking a deep breath, Xander pushed the door open end entered the room. Instantly all the eyes were on him. His father was not a happy camper, even if he was smiling his eyes told a very different story. Xander was sure that he would hear all about it later. His mother, per her usual, had a vacant expression in her eyes. Already too much alcohol guessed Xander.

Barbara was sited on the sofa across the table from his parents, smiling. Right next to her was another woman, blonde in her mid thirties with a girl in her lap. Judging from the similarities in appearance it was her daughter.

"Hello Xander, did you sleep well?" asked Barbara inviting him to set on the free chair with her hand. Tony took her comment as a critic about his lateness and wanted to contribute his two cents: "Yeah boy if you can't wake up in the morning you should go to sleep sooner."

"Actually I am up since five; I even went to run with Nick. Experience, that I don't want to repeat any time soon. Did Nick ever consider signing up for the Olympics?" he asked only half joking.

"Well good. At least you moved your lazy bum once in a while!" Xander looked at his father confused. What had he done now? He was being good and trying to impress the relatives. Then it hit him. What his father hated more then Xander screwing up was to be made appear like a fool. Sadly his definition of fool tended to change on a daily bases.

When he noticed everyone in the room staring at him, and not in a good way he got up. "Come on dear lets take a walk around the house. We have to digest this lovely breakfast after all."

He took his wife arm and almost dragged her out of the room.

The place fell in an uncomfortable silence for a moment, until Barbara took control of the situation again.

"Well my boy what are you still doing up, on your feet? Come, sit down. I would like to introduce you to Rachel Corrigan and her lovely daughter Kat. Girls this is the young man that I have been telling you about. Isn't he handsome?"

"Nice meeting you both," said Xander and took the empty sofa his parents have vacated.

"So Xander you went running with Nick, how did that happen?" was curious Rachel.

"It was completely involuntary, I assure you. There I was, minding my own business, when Nick appeared out of the blue. I don't know really how, but the next thing I know I am running through the forest, half dead. I wasn't kidding earlier; he really should consider the Olympics."

"Yes Nick was always like this. Always pushing the envelope," nodded Barbara.

"You mean even before the military? Was his father a soldier too?" he asked.

"You and Nick talked about his military career?" was surprised Rachel.

"Ah no, I just assumed… he looks like a soldier that's all. And since I can't imagine a kid training for the marathon, or being this committed I guessed that it must be his fathers influence. Was I wrong?"

"No you weren't wrong," answered Rachel still a little confused. "It was just a big leap to assume that, since you know Nick for all of what, twelve hours?"

"I am sorry, I shouldn't have just blunted out the first thing that came to my mind. I am afraid that my mouth is faster then my brain sometimes…well most of the times," he amended himself with a lopsided smile.

"You don't have to apologize, you were right, it just surprised me how you managed to connect things."

"And that is not the only talent that he is hiding." piped in Barbara.

Xander looked at her startled. What was she getting at?

"What do you mean?"

"Alex and Philip told me all about it," smiled Barbara.

A slight redness crossed Xander face. "You mean my incredible talent to put my foot in my mouth?" he asked with an embarrassed smile.

"Actually I was talking about your knowledge in ancient languages. Alex told me you are quite an expert."

Xander whished for another wall, against which he could bang his head. What was with these people? First Nick with the obsession about his home life and now Barbara with the school theme.

Xander knew that he wasn't as stupid as others thought. It was just that being smart only raised the expectation other people had of him. Not his parents, no. People like Willow and … well Willow. But still, she would expect homework and a B average. It was just too much trouble.

"I already told Alex that a friend of mine is into this kind of stuff. Hanging around him I was bound to pick up bits and pieces," tried to explain Xander, bracing himself for yet another interrogation about his 'future' plans. 'Where are vampires when you need them? ...'

Derek was just about to join his mother and her guests in the sitting room when the door opened slowly and Xander walked out, his face carefully blank. His movements were slow and deliberate as if he was trying to avoid drawing attention to himself.

As soon as the click of the closing door was heard the teen legs gave way and he slided down the wall and sat on the floor. He had his eyes closed and was obviously trying to calm himself by taking deep breaths.

Derek decided to give the boy time to regain some kind of composure before inquiring what had caused this extreme reaction. He chose to spend those minutes carefully observing him and trying to make sense of the earlier episode.

Xander obviously felt the energy spike that passed between them, his shocked expression afterwards said it all, but was he aware of what it was? Living with the gift was not easy. More so if you were unaware of it. Things of the other side tend to be attracted to this kind of power signature and if you were not aware of it, it could turn deadly.

Finally the other calmed himself enough to stand up on his own and was now staring at him distrustfully. Oh yeah, thought Derek, he knew the score, which will make 'The Talk' a little more easy on him he supposed. Noticing that Xander was still shaking slightly he decided to postpone the talk to a latter time. He had to have 'The Talk' with his mother first anyway.

"Are you all right?"

Xander just nodded, not trusting himself to talk.

"Did something happen?"

Xander looked at him undecided, so Derek pushed a little. "You can tell me, I won't be mad."

Xander looked at his shoes and then back at Derek, throwing a quick glance at the still closed door he seemed to have come to a decision. He stepped closer to the other man and in a conspiratorially low voice confided: "Don't take this in a wrong way, but your mom is a really scary lady."

Derek stared at the huge innocent eyes and tried very hard not to laugh. And failed. Miserably.

If it was possible the kids eyes went even wider and were darting between the door and Derek. "Shhh, they will hear you. Shhh!!" hissed Xander his arms flapping wildly around and Derek could just see them, itching to cover his mouth.

When he had to stop for air they heard a sound coming from the incriminated room.

"Oh boy, oh boy!" chanted Xander. "You are so on your own buddy." And just like that he was gone in a blink of an eye, leaving the San Francisco Legacy house Percept laughing maniacally all alone for no apparent reason.

When Barbara, Rachel and Kat entered the hallway to investigate the strange noises they were faced with a giggling Percept with tears in his eyes.

"Are you okay, Derek?" asked his mother, preoccupied. She hadn't seen his son smiling, let alone laughing in a long time.

Derek finally got himself under control and addressed his mother: "What did you do to that poor boy? As soon as he closed the sitting room door he collapsed, and when he heard that you were opening the door he run as if the hellhounds were out for his blood."

Barbara's guilty expression washed some of his hilarity away. His mother rarely looked guilty and when she did it was for good reason.

"What did you say to the boy?"

"It was nothing, we were just talking." She defended herself.

"And what were you talking about?"

"Kat why don't you go check on Xander, sweetie?" intervened Rachel.

Kat, at that just rolled her eyes: "Mom if you don't want me to hear what you are talking about just say so." And with a huff she was gone.

"You have one very perceptive young girl there," noticed Barbara.

Rachel grinned: "A little too perceptive sometimes."

"Nonsense there is no such thing as to perceptive or too intelligent," replayed the older woman.

Once the adults were alone, they moved back to the sitting room. Derek had finally managed to calm down even if the memories of the retreating boy threaten to send him over the edge all over again.

Taking a deep breath he looked straight to his mother: "So what is going on here? What are you plotting?"

"I see that you still don't pull your punches, even for your own mother," she sighed.

"Mother I am not kidding. Why this charade? What did you think it would accomplish?"

"I just wanted to get reacquired with my family, our family. I wanted to meet my nephew."

"And why is that?" he pushed relentlessly.

"Derek do I have to have a reason to meet a nephew, that I never saw before?"

"Yes," almost screamed Derek. Normally he was calm and collected, but his mother had the gift to make him loose every semblance of control.

"Maybe it's better if I leave you two alone to discuss this." said Rachel already darting for the door.

"Rachel, thank you for your assistance," said Barbara.

Rachel just nodded and left the room.

"Assistance with what?" asked Derek more and more suspicious.

"Sit down dear. We need to talk and it's not going to be a pleasant conversation."

He did as he was told and braced himself for what was to come.

"As you remember Jessica left this house when she met the young delinquent that become her husband and never returned."

Derek nodded. This was nothing new.

"Well some time ago I heard from an acquaintance that Jessica had a son." Here Barbara took a pause and Derek knew that the main revelation was coming. "She also said that the child was treated poorly and even abused by his father."

"So you organized this little party to lure them in, have Rachel study them and then what? What was your big plan? To keep him? Isn't he almost eighteen?"

"To tell you the truth I didn't plan that far ahead," she admitted. "It all happened to fast. I just met Hallie a couple of days before my birthday. We talked of nothing in particular when the conversation slipped to Jessica and her son. I was shocked to hear how Tony treated that poor boy. I couldn't believe it. So I had a friend check his medical records."

"And what did your friend found?"

"Oh it was horrible. There were signs of abuse right from the beginning. His first trip to the E.R. was when he was 2 years old. A broken arm, then six mounts later it was a concussion, then a year latter a broken leg with bruised ribs. I don't know what the social services were thinking about. The signs were all there!" she said wiping an escaped tear.

"Hallie said that it wasn't only physical abuse either. Tony put him down again and again, called him stupid and worthless."

"Mom? Who is this Hallie? You never mentioned her before? Where did you meet her?"

"Oh, I told you she is an old friend."

"Since when?"

"I…" Barbara thought about it. "I am not really sure. What does it matter? The important thing is that she was right! I asked Rachel for an evaluation and she concurred with me. My nephew was horribly abused. He is insecure, has low self esteem and his grades are low even if he is quite intelligent. Did you know that he can read Sumerian, and Latin and that he recognizes Cuneiform writing? How many of his peers can say that? I suspect that he knew a lot more than those languages, but he undermined himself at every step. According to Rachel that is another sign of abuse….. Derek?"

"This complicates things."

"That he was abused? Derek, don't be insensitive! I didn't raise you to be a heartless man."

"What?" blinked Derek, confused. "No, I was not talking about that. A little while ago we shook hands and I had a vision."

"What it was about?"

"It was bad. There were vampires hunting kids, I also saw an old one, but what bothered me the most was that Xander was able to sever our connection and end the vision. No one was ever able to do that."

"Are you saying that he is psychic?" frowned Barbara.

"I'm almost certain of it. If you add to that his knowledge of ancient languages, my vision and his past as an abused child …… a child like that would most likely seek out a male authority figure to take the place of his father. If someone found out about his gift, he would have an easy job of turning him to the dark side."

"How certain are you of that?" asked Barbara biting her lips.

"That someone is taking advantage of him? Not sure. About the rest? Pretty certain. Why?"

When Barbara continued to bite her lips and didn't answer, Derek lost his patience. "Mother, if there is something you wish to tell me, now is the time."

"Well you see….. Gosh how can I put this? I am not sure that Tony is Xanders father."

"WHAT??!!"

TBC …

**Ple****ase R&R. **


	5. Meeting the family part 3

Hello everybody – long time no see. Sorry to make you wait this long, but I kept rewriting this chapter over and over - even now, after take five, I am not very happy with it. But as they say the show must go on…..

I would like to thank everyone that left feed-back. It really helps me going that you guy read my story and liked it enough to leave a note. Thank you!

Salamander Hanzo – love the fact that you love it.

Hoshi-tachi – Poltergeist was a really awesome show. If you have time I suggest you catch a rerun. You will love it. It's like a cross between Psi-factor and Buffy.

Kai – I too like the stories that deal with Xanders real family. Unfortunately for you, you will have to wait for Legacy family 2 to find out X's real father.

calileane – ask and you shall receive. Here is the next chapter of the story. Please recall the hellhound, I am already writing the next installment. As for Dinner meeting, there is a sequel but before I start writing it there are other fics planed, so it will take awhile.

**CHAPTER 3**

Meanwhile, Xander was able to get a good distance between himself and the crazy ladies, and more importantly he was able to secure a phone. Lady Fortuna was smiling down on him. He dialed the number that he memorized years ago and waited for Giles to pick up.

"Sunnydale high school library, how may I help you?" he picked up after the third ring.

"Hey G-man you sound British and stuffy even on the phone," smirked Xander.

"Yes well… Xander is that you?"

"The one and only. Hey who else has been calling you G-man other then me?"

"I thank the heavens that nobody else would think to address me with that infernal nick-name."

"Oh good cause I was getting a little jealous. I should put a copyright sign on that moniker."

"Now who sounds stuffy?" Xander could almost hear the smirk in the others voice, Ripper clearly peeping through the librarians shell. Since the band candy incident Giles begun a slow, but constant change in his behavior. Personally Xander liked this new and improved librarian that had shaded a big chunk of his Watcher stuck up upbringing.

"Yeah, yeah laugh it up. You just wait till I came up with something worse."

"Is there something you need?" asked Giles.

"Yes I wanted to ask you something but … uhmm …. I really don't know how to breach the subject."

"And there you go again using proper English. If I didn't know better I would say that the world is coming to an end much sooner then the end of the year. Are you possessed again?"

"What! NO!! I mean no." exclaimed Xander. At the same time he saw the little girl, what was her name… Kat, eavesdropping. She was just a little girl, but still it wasn't safe to talk about it on the phone, at least until he knew the score. It's not like it couldn't wait till the end of the week anyway.

"Look Giles it wasn't that important. I'll see you at the end of the week."

"Xander wait!"

"Yes?"

"If you are not terribly busy I would have a favor to ask of you."

"Sure, shot."

"Well there is a book that I ordered from San Francisco. You would make me a great favor if you could pick it up. Save me a trip and the gas expenses."

"You know there is this thing called fed-ex, that we Americans like to use…"

"It's a very important book. One that could help us with our little mayor problem."

"Oh, oh okay. Got it. Where can I pick it up?"

Xander scribbled down the address and directions, all the while frowning at the paper.

"Is that really necessary? Cause I have to tell you it's a little on the disgusting side."

"It's a magical shop. What did you expect?" asked Giles amused.

"Of cause it is. What was I thinking…. Well I have to go. Call you latter with news about the book."

Ending the call, Xander was still going through the directions when a timid voice brought him out of his planning. "What kind of book are you searching for?"

"Well I don't know for sure, it's a book for a friend of mine. But I would say it deals with myths and legends," said Xander, his frown deepening. Did he even mention the book on his end of the conversation? He must have, or the little girl is another psychic. Nah.

"Oh like dragons and witches and demons?"

"Not exactly, but similar. Say, wouldn't you know where Nick is?"

"Last I saw him he was working on his car. Why?"

"I just need to ask him something." He looked around lost, then smiled his best smile and offered Kat his arm. "Would you mind accompany me to the garage, my lady?"

"I would be delighted my lord," she giggled and took his hand. Then after a brief pause: "My lady wouldn't want my Lord to get lost again."

Xander groaned in exasperation. "I wasn't lost. Me and Nick are soooo gonna have words."

Kats only response was an intensification of the giggles.

As Kat predicted they found Nick in the garage fussing over on old mustang. The little girl emitted a high pitch sound and jumped in the embrace of the surprised man. The force of the jump was so powerful that Nick lost his footing, resulting in them both ending butt first on the floor.

In Xanders opinion this was an appropriate punishment for spreading rumors about him.

"Well I was going to lecture you about turning a young mans desire to explore in a vile tale about his lousy sense of direction, but I see that the Fates had already skipped the lecture and passed directly to the consequences of such an act," he smiled, extending his arm to help Nick rose from his sitting position.

"Ha-ha, very funny," he said then turned to Kat: "What did we decided about sudden attacks?"

For her part Kat seemed genuinely sorry for her action, which suggested to Xander a story behind this event.

Then Nick turned to Xander; "So, how can I help you?"

Xanders eyebrow rose: "What make you think that I need your help?"

"My infallible intuition tells me that or you aren't here to help me with my car."

"Your intuition is really good," commented Xander.

"Thought so," smirked Nick.

"I was just wondering if there was a way for me to get to town in an immediate future. I have some very heavy duty shopping to do if I want to survive my return home."

"Sure, no problem. I have to go get some supplies anyway. You could catch a ride. But aren't you supposed to remain here for another five days?"

"Uhh yeah, but I will feel better when all is taken care off. If I don't return bearing gifts they will crucify me."

"Poor baby, they have you trained well," laughed Nick.

"You have no idea," said Xander then closed his eyes and shuddered while uttering one ward: "Shoes."

Even Nick, that to that point had taken great delight in teasing the young man, was overtaken by a sudden sympathetic shudder.

Kat looked at them and in all the innocence of her twelve years she asked: "What is wrong with shoes? I like them."

The two men looked at each other and then Xander shouted: "Run, run for your life."

The shout was followed by a choir of laughter, as a very confused and for some unknown reason very angry girl observed the two of them.

A lone figure was observing the scene from one of the windows undecided on his next move. Being the Percept of this house wasn't easy, but being the head of the Rayne family was much harder, but when the two intertwined it was a living nightmare.

Derek knew he didn't have much time on his disposal. The Harris will be gone in a matter of days. Even if he confronted the issue this night there will be repercussions that couldn't be solved right away. So the real question was, what should he do? He had to talk to the lad about his gift. There was no question about that. The other matter on the other hand was trickier, not to say personal. Some days he just wanted to sleep through.

Nick left Xander in the bay area from where he had easy access to public transportation. The drive there was spent in silence, listening to the radio. Nobody breached the taboo subject, even if Nick was dying to, judging from the furtive glances thrown his way.

Xander stretched the kinks in his muscles and headed to the nearest shop with sport items. First things first. He needed a suitable container for his souvenir shopping and a big sport backpack was the ideal.

Since the magic shop won't be open for another couple of hours the next thing on his list of thing to do was gifts for the girls. Willow was easy. Since he knew her since kinder garden he knew exactly what to get, unlike Buffy who was another story all together. Browsing through the stores he almost gave up, when suddenly the perfect gift appeared.

The necklace was perfect. Silver chain, that seemed to be made by hand with a little cross at the end also hand-made. He couldn't be sure but he could swear that there were some kind of symbols embedded in the little piece of jewelry. It was beautiful and functional, a little over his budget but worth every penny.

"I'll take that. Could you gift-wrapped it for me?"

The seller looked surprised. "It's interesting, that old thing has been here for years. Nobody ever even seems to notice it."

"Really? It's not cursed or something, is it?" asked Xander, only half joking.

"Cursed? No it's not cursed," laughed the man. "It's a very special necklace that belonged to a very special lady. I am sure it was just waiting for the right owner."

"Which is also a very special lady. Are you sure it's okay? Because if there is a curse on this, the lady in question is going to skin me alive."

The seller looked Xander deep in the eyes, like he was searching for something. Seconds passed as the two stared at each other. One gaze searching, the other confused. Just as Xander was about to make a joke about him not swinging that way, the shop-keeper broke the staring contest and smiled. "You will do," making Xander all the more confused.

"Do what?"

Ignoring the question the shop-keeper begun to wrap the gift. "Tell you what young man. Since you took that thing off of my hands I will give you a discount. What do you say about a 30% price cut?"

"It will be great! Wait a minute are you sure it's not cursed?"

"Positive! Here you go young man. I am sure that this will make your friend very happy."

"Thanks Mr…..?"

"Call me Blackie."

"Strange name."

"I used to run a café, but that business went under water, literally. Now I sell trinkets that need new owners."

Xander looked at him strangely, wondering what his name had to do with the fact that he used to own a bar when the shop door opened and a pair of young people walked in arguing.

"Fay, Frankie did you get the item that I sent you to find?"

"Right here boss," yelled Frankie and the two advanced deeper into the shop, without breaking their banter.

"Assistants these days. All the good ones are already taken." murmured Blackie. "Well have a good day, son."

Xander was already out of the door when the owner called him back. "Oh and Xander? Are you really that sure about that swinging thing?"

"Wha…" Xander turned only to come face to face with the alley wall. There was no door and no shop. He stared at the red bricks, where the door used to be until finally deciding that drawing attention to himself really wasn't of the good.

So before the man in white came and took him away he started walking towards his next and final destination, while feverishly examining the last couple of minutes.

~Strange shop-keeper – check, mysterious necklace (that he would have Giles thoroughly research before handing it to Buffy) – check, vanishing shop – check, weird assistants caring something that looked like the Black Orlov – check, psychic shop-keeper knowing his name even if he never told him – check, psychic shop- keeper questioning his … nope not going there!!~

"Man why do this things always happen to me!" exclaimed Xander. Some people in the street turned to look at the crazy man shouting in the middle of the street, but most ignored him. This was San Francisco after all.

Just then he noticed the clock. "Man and on top of that I am also late." This time he didn't wait for the people to start questioning his sanity and broke in a fast run. He had only one hour before his appointment with Nick and Giles shop was at the other end of town.

Inside a shop lost in space and time three figures watched the television with interest as the dark haired man sprinted through town to get to an important meeting.

"It's a little unusual for you to give away the merchandise to a person that's not designated for it. I would go as far as to say that it never happened. What gives?" inquired Frank.

"Gives that the storage room is still a mess and you are late on the Patlov delivery. Remind me again why am I keeping you here?"

"On it Boss," saluted Frank and Blackie rolled his eyes, barely stopping himself from slapping his underling upside the head. God give him patience.

When they left, leaving him alone he sighed. "Special circumstances, special people. I hope you are right about this old friend."

The shop remained silent.

The sun was already setting on the city when Xander arrived to the magic shop. It was a miracle that he even got there considering the dark and narrow alleys he had to walk through. If this was SunnyD he would have been jumped by vampires by now.

The shop didn't have particular distinguished features that set him apart from the rest of the houses in the district. It was old and rundown, the only difference between this house and the next was a big white circle drawn on the door.

Following Giles direction he knocked three time then stepped back and in a clear voice said: "I am here by the will of he who watches. I mean no harm. Please grant me entrance."

Then he took out a pocket knife and cut open the palm of his hand. Rich blood flowed to the surface and Xander stared at it for a moment before rising his arm to the white circle and pushing it against the door, palm up. As Giles told him he met no resistance, his hand sliding effortlessly into the circle.

On the other end somebody grabbed his arm and a moment latter he could fell a tongue lapping at his blood. Fighting the need to retreat his hand and run for the hills he closed his eyes and thought of England, or in this case Giles and the mayor. When that didn't work he shifted his attention to counting the cracks in the wall. He arrived at forty-seven when the wet sensation finally went away and the door opened revealing a middle aged man wearing a flannel pajama.

Without saying anything the man stepped to the side to let Xander in.

"I'm here for the book that Giles bought."

The man turned his back on him and started rummaging through a file of books.

"Nice place you have here."

The other kept ignored him, moving to another pile.

"So from where do you know Giles? Does he normally buy books here?"

When the old man didn't acknowledge his presence he got the message and closed his mouth shut. Finally the man pulled out an old dusty book and handed it to Xander, while with his other hand he guided him toward the door.

"Well it was nice meeting yo…u" said Xander at the closed door in front of him. "That went well, at least this one didn't disappear,' he murmured turning around to leave when the door opened again and the old man stuck his hand out.

Thinking that the other wanted to shake hands with him Xander raised his hand but instead of a hand-shake a stake was pushed into his hand, before the door was once again closed in his face.

"Okay that wasn't weird at all," he said and then frowned. "I got a bad felling about this."

The words didn't even have the time to leave his mouth when he heard steps approaching from behind.

"Well look what we have here. It's our dinner, guys! How nice of him to came all the way here just for us."

Even in the process of wetting his pants in fright he couldn't help himself from noticing that no mater where they were, the hellmouth or SF, the vampires were genetically predisposed to bad puns. And the worst part was that they seemed to recycle them and to share them between themselves.

He looked at the stake in his hands, assessing it. It wouldn't do to have a weapon that breaks in the middle of the fight. He didn't have to worry through, the weight resting on his palm was solid, the grip felt like it was made for him and more importantly the end was very, very pointy.

Slowly he turned to look at his opponents and this time he couldn't stop his mouth from commenting.

"Okay, that confirms it! Not only you guys recycle your puns but your sense of fashion is way worse then mine, no matter what Cordelia says!"

"What did you say?" growled one of them, obviously the leader.

"Hard on hearing are we? That's strange you don't seem that old, or powerful." he baited them.

"Hey you don't speak with the boss this way!" screamed one of the minions and charged him.

Xander didn't have much time to react. Luckily he didn't have to do much. The vampire was so enraged that he didn't even notice the stake Xander was holding. It all ended in a matter of seconds. Xander raised the stake to chest height then waited for the other to simply impale himself.

The ash hadn't even settled yet when the other minion charged him with a cry of anger, something about killing her brother. This time Xander didn't go off easily. Without the element of surprise he had to relate on his fighting skills alone, all the while keeping an eye on the 'boss'.

After a particularly memorable impact with the wall and an almost loose of consciousness the vampire stopped.

"Look at you! The Slayers White Knight. You aren't even worth the trouble to kill!"

Gloating, though Xander recuperating his strength, was one of the reasons why the bad guys lost so many battles. If they would just go and do their job the success ratio, not to talk about their surviving chances would increase exponentially. Not that he was complaining.

Finally getting his breathing under control Xander rose up and faced her.

"Maybe I will send you to your Slayer in a nice box with a pink ribbon. I can just hear her desperate screams."

"Do you know what I hear right now?" asked Xander getting closer to his prey.

"No what, doughnut boy?" she snarled.

"You, dancing in the wind," smiled Xander and pounced. The vampire was taken by surprise by the sudden actions and stumbling to avoid the collision she found herself with her back against the wall and a stake in her heart. The last thing she saw was Xanders animalistic smile and cold eyes.

After the ashes dissipated in the alley the boy turned to face the last vampire and stopped in confusion. His last opponent was gone and in his place, leaning against the wall, stood a young man, a little older then him. But what surprised him the most was that he knew him or at least he knew someone that looked just like him.

The young man clapped his hands, while pushing himself of the wall.

"Nicely done." He said and grinned at him predatorily while he advanced on his prey. Instinctively Xander took a step back.

"Thank you … I think. Uhmm what are you doing here?"

"I was tracking those impure creatures for a while now, waiting for them to make a mistake. It didn't take them long."

"What mistake?" whimpered Xander as the stranger invaded his personal space.

"To attack a human," said the stranger, beginning to sniff Xanders neck.

"Hey, hey, hey personal space, buddy!!" panicked Xander, pushing the stranger away. He pushed with all his straight and nothing happened. It was like pushing against solid rock, like pushing against Buffy.

"I guess you aren't human either?"

"Nope," smirked the stranger.

"Are you going to eat me?"

"Only if you ask me nicely," whispered the stranger.

"I guess I walked into that one," sighed Xander pushing the stranger away once again. This time the other took a step back and granted the boy some space.

"So what do you want with me?" asked Xander after his heart stopped racing.

"What makes you think that I want something?"

"Why else would you stick around? You could just leave and I would never know you were even here."

"Maybe I just wanted to talk to you," smiled the other. "Invite you for a drink, that sort of thing."

"Riiight."

"Hey don't be so insecure, you are really attractive."

Xander studied him for a moment unsure how to formulate his next question. Not really sure if he wanted to.

"What is it?" asked the man.

"Do you know a guy named Jack O'Toole?"

"Who?" asked the other surprised, clearly not expecting this question.

"Jack O'Toole?"

"Never heard of him. Why?"

"You look just like he did. The two of you could be twin brothers."

"Did?"

"Yeah, he died."

"Sorry. How did he die?"

"Don't be sorry, we weren't friends. As for how he died it's a little difficult to explain. You wouldn't believe me, anyway."

"Try me. You could be surprised." he smiled, nodding toward the spot where the vampire stood pre-stakage.

"He was shot. Then his father brought him back to life as a Zombie. He raised some of his friends and together decided to blow up the school. His plan failed and in the end he was eaten by a were-wolf. So I guess you could say he was eaten. Or shot. Whichever you consider to be more accurate."

The other man doubled over, unable to control his laughter.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me," pouted Xander.

"It's not that I don't believe you. It's just … your story …" he couldn't continue as another round of laughter caught him.

"Okay be that way!" murmured Xander, picking up his back-pack and getting ready to leave.

"Hey wait up," called the stranger after him. "I need to tell you something."

"Tell me what? And who are you anyway?"

As soon as the question left his lips the men behavior changed completely. "I am Cash, the primogen of the Gangrel clan and the personal bodyguard of the Prince of the city of San Francisco. I am Kindred."

"Uhm okay? That seems kind of an important job," said Xander. "Should this mean something to me?"

Cash was watching him like he had grown another head. "You don't know? Aren't you a Watcher? The Slayers White Knight?"

"Okay, first of all do I look British to you? And second, where the hell did you hear about the White Knight thing? Stupid captain gel hair!"

Cash was about to replay but a stream of curses directed toward Angel begin filtering out of Xanders mouth.

"Hey!" shouted Cash stopping the rant mid curse. Xander looked at him and that was a mistake. Cash captured his eyes and in a low, hypnotic voice suggested to Xander that he forgot everything that happened after he picked up his back-pack, erasing the memory of the Kindred completely.

After the task was completed Cash was about to release his mind when he noticed the blood that was trickling down the side of Xanders face. Unable to stop himself he bent down and licked it away, closing his eyes in the process.

"Adrenalin filled blood is the best, isn't it?"

Cash stepped away from Xander in shock. "Julian! What are you doing here?"

"I was going for a night stroll, when I felt your presence. What are you doing Cash?"

"I was tracking the impure and they led me to this boy." Cash pointed to Xander, who was still caught in the trance, unmoving. "From what I gathered he is a friend of the Slayer, helps her out."

Julian frowned. "But he is not a Watcher?" he wanted to make sure.

"No Sire."

"What a novel idea, for a Slayer to have friends and fighting companions. Maybe the Council is finally changing to a more modern organization." Mused Julian then turned to Xander.

"What is your name?"

"Xander."

"What is your full name?" corrected Cash.

"Alexander LaVelle Harris."

"Boy your parents must really hate you," joked Cash but Xander still in his trans replied truthfully. "Yes, they do."

Cash brought his attention back to the boy, surprised. He wanted to say something… even if he didn't know what. It was disconcerting to hear something like that in that indifferent tone of voice. Dispassionate and uncaring, even Julian seemed to be a little taken aback by the declaration, but he wasn't the Prince of the city for nothing, he shook it off and continued in his interrogation.

"Is this why you joint the Slayer in her fight?"

"No, the vampires killed … turned my best friend."

The two men exchanged concerned looks. "So you joint her to get revenge?"

"Yes… no…."

Julian frowned. They were loosing him. Their hold on him was slipping.

"How old are you?" asked Cash. Xander relaxed and answered without consideration. "Seventeen"

Interrogating someone in trans was much like the police interrogation of a suspect. They built up to the real question and when the subject got too uncomfortable they back down to more innocent questions, only to subsequently built up again. Only difference was that in a police station they had all the time in the world and could repeat the process as many times as necessary, while Kindred were limited by time and the numbers of tries. They could push a mind only to a certain point, before it broke.

"The school is almost over then. Must be a relief."

This time they got a genuine grin. "Yes."

"So you met the Slayer in school?" asked Julian, returning to the topic at hand.

"Yes."

"Why are you helping her?"

"It's the right thing to do."

"Yes but why did you decide to help her?"

"Lost my best friend, had to stake him. Don't want others to go through the same thing."

"If you came across a non violent demon would you kill it?"

"No, 'm friends with were-wolf, dating an ex-demon. Think we are dating…" then a stupid grin appeared on his face. "The sex is great."

Cash ginned. "Who is this ex-demon of yours?"

"Anya. Used to be Anyaka, the saint patron of scorned woman."

Cash throw back his head and started laughing. No matter how his Prince was glaring at him he couldn't stop it. The kid was dating the most feared woman on the planet, one that would have him eviscerated on a moment notice. He was incredibly brave or really stupid. The fact that he was a teenager in throws of hormones would indicate the second one.

"Is this the opinion of the Council as well?" asked Julian

"Bunch of pansies all of them.…" declared Xander. "For the exception of Giles. He is cool, even in his tweed suit and stupid accent."

"So I take it the Council doesn't approve?"

"They fired Giles. They shouldn't have done that. They lost the Slayer and us in the process. Serves them right!"

At that Julian's interest picked up. "So the Council doesn't have a Slayer anymore?'

"I…no, don't know…what…?"

"Xander relax. Tell me more about Anya."

"She… why…. What?"

Julian sighed and nodded to Cash, which in turn released Xander. They had all the information that they were gonna get.

Xander blinked and looked first at Cash and then at the new man. His alarms were ringing like there was no tomorrow. The last thing he remembered was picking up his back-pack and then nothing.

"What is going on? Who are you?"

"This is my friend Julian, he joined me after you passed out."

"No I didn't." stated Xander.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. You took quite a hit to the head."

Xanders only response was to cross his arms and stare stubbornly at Cash.

"Look it's better if you return home. It's not safe here as you have seen."

"Safe from who?" muttered Xander leaving the alley and the two man behind.

This night was getting better and better. He wondered what else was going to happen to him tonight. It didn't take much to found the answer to that question.

As he arrived to the meeting point, Nick's car was already there waiting for him. He hurried his steps and with a final sprint opened the car door and sat down. "Sorry I am late. Got a little lost on the way."

Nick turned to tell him not to worry, when he saw the state Xander was in. His t-shirt was torn and bloody, the pants ripped and dirty. "What the hell happened to you?"

"What do you mea…n, ah."

He was so concentrated on what happened with Cash and his friend that he didn't remember to stop at a store to buy new wardrobe. He pretended to examine his t-shirt while in reality he was furiously thinking what to tell Nick.

"Stalling won't help. I'll know when you are lying."

"I was mugged," he finally decided to go with one of Sunnydale specials.

"Right. Now try the truth," said Nick sarcastically.

"Look the stores are about to close, can we go buy a new t-shirt and jeans? I wouldn't want everyone to worry," said Xander turning the full power of his puppy eyes on Nick.

"Okay, but as soon as you have sorted your clothes out we are talking. No amount of begging will dissuade me from it."

Luckily for them they were able to find a cheap second hand store still open at that late hour and Xander bought a pair of yeans, that in his opinion were way too small and a t-shirt that thanks to God was big enough to cover most of his …. lower central mass.

All too soon the two were on their way to Angel Island, managing to catch the last ferry to the island. And so here they were, standing on the deck, Xander trying to avoid a confrontation and Nick waiting impatiently for the other to start his story.

"So?" Nick finally had enough of stalling.

"I was almost robbed."

When Nick started to protest, Xander raised his arm and stopped him. "It's the truth. I was wandering, looking for gifts and all of the sudden I am in this old part of the town, away from tourists and respectable people. I tried to back track my steps but suddenly there were these three guys surrounding me. I didn't know what to do, I was nervous and when I am nervous my mouth tends to run ahead of my brain."

"What happened?" asked Nick in a serious voice.

"Oh you know how these things go. I insulted them, they insult me and after we have traded insults they decided that my bag wasn't worth enough so we resorted to punches."

"You fought them off?"

"Not really… in the middle of me getting my ass kicked, appeared this guy and gave me a hand. He was really nice."

"Why didn't you call the police?"

"There was nothing to report. They didn't steal anything and the alley was so dark that I doubt I will be able to recognize them."

"What about the guy that saved you? Could he identify them?"

"Nah, and even if he could I don't know who he is. Don't even know his name."

"We should tell your parents."

"You're kidding right?"

Nick let out a sigh. "Xander, what we talked about…"

"I thought we were over this!"

"This is something else."

"Something I won't like. Look it's been a long day; can we leave this for tomorrow?"

Nick wanted to complain but seeing the boys tired face he relented and turned away from the ships railing. "I'm gonna buy a drink want something?"

"A coke, thank you." He said then when Nick was out of ear shout he sighed. "Where is a memory wiper when you need one." And followed Nick to the vending machine not noticing the strange look that the man on his right shot him at the comment.

Returning to Angel Island was like coming home. As soon as they opened the doors they could hear Tony's voice snarling at poor Frederick. "And you call this a drink!"

"I better get this," whispered Xander hurrying toward the noise, limping slightly.

Nick watched his retreat with a frown on his face. The story that Xander had told him was reasonable, even believable. There was just this feeling nagging at him that an important part of the story has been left out.

He really didn't know where to place the boy. The minute he thought he had him figured out something happened to disrupt the picture he had of him.

"Quite an interesting person," commented Derek joining his chief of security. "What do you make of him?"

Nick smirked. "What? Do you read mind now? I was just thing about it."

"And?" prompted the other when Nick didn't elaborate.

"I am confused. I like him, I think he is a good kid, but I don't know where to place him. There are so many contradictory clues that I just don't know."

"I see. Do you want to join me in my office?"

"Lead the way."

Xander was standing on the balcony that overlooked the bay. It was a clear night, with a spectacular view. It was a pity that he didn't see it. He had other things on his mind.

If things progressed the way they were, they were going to be kicked out of the castle before the week was up.

He just didn't get them, his parents. Coming to this place and trying to impress the locals, only to cast it all away for a pint of bear and some ego stroking. Well that was Tony Harris for you. Drunk extraordinaire. He could just imagine Nick and the others sharpening the pitchforks in the basement, readying an attack plan to get rid of them.

"Xander."

He had been so lost in his own little world that he didn't notice Derek's arrival to his side. The man was still in the same dress that he wore for dinner which still bear the signs of the confrontation that took place earlier. But the most telling sigh of a struggle was the split lip and the black eye that mirrored his own.

"Huh, no pitchforks?" commented Xander caring on his earlier musings.

"No, no pitchforks," smiled Derek. "Even if there were, they wouldn't be for you."

"So you kicking us out?" wanted to know Xander. If they were to leave at least he wanted to be ready. There was no telling what his father would do once he recovered from the drunk stupor he had fallen in, after the deed.

"Not yet. We are confident that we can survive another four day."

At that Xander threw back his head and laughed. "Boy you are optimistic. We are here … what, two days? … and half the house is already plotting our demise. If I were in your place I would already kicked us out after yesterdays debacle. I really don't know what you are waiting for."

"Actually I wanted to talk to you," said Derek very seriously.

"Figures! This seems to be the theme of the day," bit back Xander.

"I am aware that my mother…"

"Your mother, Nick, Rachel, you … it's a conspiracy. People didn't give me this much attention, well ever. What do you want with me? Really?"

"I wanted to talk to you since this afternoon," he paused to make sure that Xander was paying attention. Satisfied he continued: "It's not an easy subject to breach and I am not sure that you will believe me, although I think that, in this case it won't be so difficult to convince you. When we shook hands this afternoon something happened. Something.."

Xander stopped his explanation by waving his hand. "Why don't you start at the beginning? Why were we invited here?"

"As hard as you may find to believe it, it was my mothers idea. She really wanted to see how you were doing. You and your mother."

"So she wanted to check on us. Why all the talk about school and university?"

Derek chuckled. "One of the cardinal sins, according to my mother is not having an education. Especially when there is intelligence and potential."

Xander snorted. "Then she didn't check on my grades."

Now was Derek turn to snort. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, if I were you." Then he sobered, "Anyway this is not my story to tell. What I was trying to say is that I have a gift. I'm psychic."

"Uh-hu," was Xander's noncommittal response. His expression was neutral but his body reflected a whole different story. Unconsciously he tensed readying himself to fight or flight while his body shifted position to one of guarded defense.

Derek cursed himself for skipping the whole, have something strange happened to you recently that he normally used in situations like that. He had been so sure that Xander already knew about the gift.

"Look I know it's hard to believe, but I am not crazy," he tried to reassure him.

"I am less worried about crazy and more about homicidal," said Xander looking at the other man. Seeing no indication that he was going to be attacked or worse, Xander relaxed slightly. "Okay I'll bite. What does this have to do with me?"

"My gift I have it since I was a child and yesterday when we shook hands something triggered one."

At that Xanders attention perked up. "What did you see?"

"It's not easy to tell. These things aren't always clear."

"From what you could tell?" He asked eagerly.

"There were kids attacked by vampires," he paused fully prepared to chase Xander if he decided that Derek was crazy after all and make a dash for safety. When he only nodded and encouraged him to continue, Derek went on. "They were in a bar of same kind. Then I saw a boy a couple of years younger then you turn his face to that of a vampire and a flash of a very old vampire."

"That's it?" asked Xander a little disappointed.

"That's it. You seem a little to comfortable with the notion of visions and strangely disappointed by what I saw. Were you expecting something else?"

"Maybe… but I guess it was too much to hope for," said Xander and turned again to look at the San Francisco lights without seeing them, his mind elsewhere. He had hopped that the other man had seen something about the mayor.

"I might have seen more if someone didn't sever my vision," stated Derek calmly.

"Who did that?" asked Xander. If the vision was severed then maybe there was hope to see more. Maybe even something helpful.

"You did." Derek dropped the bomb.

"I beg you pardon?"

Derek smirked. Despite the situation it was interesting that whenever Xander found himself in a tough situation he reverted to babbling or proper English language. It was a contradiction in itself much like the boy in front of him.

"You severed the link," repeated Derek.

"No, no you got it wrong. How could I do that? I'm no psychic. Someone or something must have interfered and stop you from seeing … something."

'Smooth, very smooth' thought Xander. 'Now let's just hope that the clever man doesn't notice that you were about to say something else…'

"Were you looking for something specific?" asked Derek.

'D'oh'

"Not really and don't change the subject. Someone is blocking your visions, aren't you curious who it is and why he is doing it?"

"Nobody is blocking it. You shut it down. As to why, I suspect that you did it unconsciously, as a defense mechanism."

"There is no way…." protested Xander.

"I felt it. The energy building up in you and then it was like someone shut down the curtain. I never felt anything like it. It was a very powerful force."

"Well there you have it. It definitely wasn't me. Power and Xander are seldom used in the same sentence."

"I know what I felt, and I know it was coming from you. It was enough to convince me, but if you want we could do some pretty simple tests to ascertain what kind of gift you have."

"No tests!" said Xander decisively. "On the other hand why don't we try that vision thing of yours again?"

"It doesn't work like that, you can't just order one."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Really, really sure?"

"Xander… look we have to talk about this. Having a gift it's not something that you can use carelessly. It's there for a reason."

"With great powers comes great responsibility?" quoted Xander.

Derek snorted. "Something like that." Then he turned serious. "There is another side to the gift. With the power you gain some advantages but in exchange you become a beacon of light attracting the dark side and it makes you vulnerable to psychic attack. In your case I'd say that you don't have to worry about attacks because your shields are already pretty strong. But there is a big possibility that sooner or latter you will be attacked physically by a ghost or demon…"

He had to stop in his explanation because Xander had started to laugh so hard that tears were running down his chick. "With that last …one … you almost convinced me." And off he went into another fit of laughter.

"Has this something to do with my vision?" asked Derek. His question was said in a neutral tone of voice. It immediately set Xander on guard.

"I guess."

When no more information was forthcoming, Derek pushed a little. "Xander demons and ghost aren't the only ones that will try to hurt you. There are people out there that wouldn't think twice to use a child, a teenager, to further their goals. It may be admirable goals, but putting a child in danger is not acceptable."

Xander was silent for a long moment. Something in the other mans behavior made him stop and pay attention. There was sadness and rage in him that didn't have anything to do with the current situation. It was like he was mourning the loose off innocence. Not Xanders, no, but his own.

"Like they did to you?" he murmured. Derek looked at him surprised. He didn't see this coming, he expected Xander to deny his allegations or defend himself. What he didn't expect was for the boy to turn the tables on him.

That question put him in a difficult position. On one hand he couldn't lie to him, it would invalidate all future relationship between them, once the truth came out. On the other hand he couldn't tell him about the Legacy. Even if he liked Xander there was no way he was going to come clean on this secret before he knew him better.

"You don't have to answer." Xander said before he had the time to articulate some sort of response. "I understand that you have your secrets, but there is a fundamental discrepancy between our stories. Well there are a lot but let's stick to the basics." smiled Xander in self deprecation. "First of all nobody is manipulating me, second, undependably of what you think of me I am not a kid or teenager anymore. In a short while I will turn eighteen, which in this country is considered to be an adult, thirdly and most importantly I don't have a gift."

"Xander I don't believe you understand." Derek tried to convince him.

"No you don't understand. It was all a fluke. Magical stuff tends to go high-wire around me. It always has."

"Magical stuff? Xander are you playing with witchcraft?"

"Me?" he looked surprised and Derek sighed in relief. The last thing that he needed was another warlock in his family.

"Magic is dangerous, it's like a drug. Once you started using it you can't stop. From the little fun spells you progress to more and more complicated and darker stuff. Before you know it you loose control and the magic burns you up, to the point that nothing about you remains if not an empty container filled with magic."

"Seems like you talk from experience." guessed Xander.

"Yeah, a distant relative of mine, but we are getting out of topic. What I meant to say is that your gift is really strong. The fact that even without training you are able to influence the flow of energies is very telling."

"And as I said to you it's only a fluke. If I had a gift I would know it." insisted Xander. Surely Giles with all his Watchers training would have picked up on it in all the years that they knew each other. He would have said something.

"Okay, then let me do some tests to see one way or the other." insisted Derek.

"It will be a waste of time. I am not psychic!" was adamant Xander. The two men stared stubbornly at one another, neither willing to back down, until a third voice cut in.

"What the hell is going on here?!" screamed Tony.

"Dad…" tried to mediate Xander, but the old man shut him up. "Quiet!!"

"…"

"Shut up, you freak! What the hell did you think you were doing? Dragging my son into your word?" Harris sr. was seriously pissed off. Xander could tell, even in the worse of his drunken rages he rarely got to this point. His hopes were beginning to rise. Never before in his life had his father stood up for him. As they say there is a first time for everything.

"Let me explain…" tried again Derek.

"Explain what? That you invited us here, looked down on us the whole time and now you want to take my son? Let me tell you something. You may be okay at being a freak but I will be damned if I let you corrupt my son. He may not be much but I will not let him get involved in your hocus pocus magic, chicken sacrifices and orgies!"

At the last sentence the whole room froze, including Jessica, Barbara, Nick, Rachel and also Kat that were attracted by the sudden commotion.

The hope that his father cared for him was shot dead even before it could rise. While the other stared at Tony in shock, Xander merely shook his head. 'Yep that was his father, all right.'

"You can enjoy this kind of life stile all you want but no kid of mine will ever be a god damned witch! Jessy get your stuff we are leaving in twenty. Kid if you are not in the car at that time I will leave you here."

After delivering that last bit Tony pirouetted on his feet and left the room with his head high, Jessica close at his heals. That left Xander alone on the balcony with a lot of confused and outraged people. And they were all starring at him, waiting for him to make the first move, afraid that if they used the wrong word or gesture he would crumble. It wasn't the first time he got this kind of reaction, so he knew what he had to do. What he always did.

Run.

"I better be going, don't want to hitch-hike to Sunnydale," he joked.

"You are not seriously considering to get in that car, are you?" asked Nick shocked.

"Yeah I am. What else could I do?"

"You could stay here."

"Uhmm I appreciate the offer but I am pretty sure it's not doable. Beside I have people to meet, places to be… my graduation is only a few months away sooo.." he shrugged his shoulders.

"Mrs. Barbara, thank you for inviting us. Even if it didn't turn up as you whished I am happy that I got to meet you. Mrs. Corrigan I am sorry I didn't get to know you better. Kat it's been nice playing with you."

Pausing for a moment, he studied Derek for a while, before offering him his hand. "It's been a pleasure meeting you too. About the things that we talked about…… I will look into it, do some research and stuff."

"You know Nick was right. You could stay here if you want. Now or after the graduation there is a place for you here."

"Are you trying to draft me now?" he asked smiling, then nodding at their still linked hands.

"Anything?"

Derek looked confused for a moment then shook his head.

"Well, it was worth a try." sighed Xander. At least he turned to the last person in the room.

"Nick."

"Xander."

Xander offered him a hand, which Nick ignored, opting for solution number two and drawing Xander in a bear hug.

"Don't be a stranger." whispered Nick. "Call and write from time to time. Or you will force me to hunt you down. Did I make myself clear?"

"Yes Sir." smiled Xander. Finally from what felt like minutes, Nick let him go and Xander waved one last time at the ensemble, before leaving the room.

Once he was gone Barbara was the first one to break the silence. "You will just let him go? After everything that you learned?"

"For now. At least till the graduation, and then we will see."

The ride home was spent in silence. There wasn't even the usual fighting between his parents. On one hand he was happy for the quiet while on the other it made him uncomfortable. It was like the silence before the storm.

When they reached Sunnydale it was already early morning. His father tired from the ride went immediately to bed, without his usual good-night whiskey. His mother stayed awake for a while, glancing at Xander from time to time when she thought he wasn't paying attention.

It was almost as if she wanted to talk to him. At last she must have lost her nerve, or decided that it wasn't that important, and went to bed leaving Xander alone in the kitchen counting the seconds going by. Finally he had enough and after grabbing the back-pack that contained the book and the girls presents he left – destination Giles house.

Tbc….


	6. Home sweet home

New chapter done and one to go to complete this first story. Next up – Graduation day. But first …

Salamander Hanzo – Glad you like it.

Quathis – Fixed the mistakes. Thanks for pointing them out. I'm not really sure how good my English is, so any pointers help. Some time ago I wrote a short story and I thought that it was good. Recently I reread it and wanted to throw up. All the prepositions were wrong and don't let me start about the tenses. So thanks. And if you happen to see some more mistakes don't be afraid to point them out.

Calileane – Here is another chapter to feed the hellhounds. Hope they like it as much as they liked the previous chapter.

And now on to the story:

**CHAPTER 4**

Giles was woken by an insistent knocking on the door. Opening one bleary eye he looked at his alarm clock and tried to make out the numbers. When he noticed that it was only 5 a.m. he cursed in a very Ripper like style, got up and prepared himself to greet the, soon to be dead, fool.

On his way toward the door he instinctually picked up an old baseball bat, for protection of course. This was Sunnydale after all. On the other hand if the treat wasn't imminent; he could always use the bat on the unfortunate person on the other end of the door.

"Who is it?" he inquired.

"You know Giles there is this invention that we call peephole. Now I know it sounds dirty but it's a very useful tool. If you would like to take notice there is a small round hole covered in glass on your eye level. All you have to do is……"

The door opened with a sudden pull leaving Xander eye to eye with a very angry and very Rippery looking Giles. "It's five in the morning Xander! For your own good I hope to God that this is a matter of life and death."

"I came bearing gifts?" said Xander in his most innocent voice, patting his back-pack in the process.

"And it couldn't wait till morning?" snarled Giles.

'Oh yeah' thought Xander, almost taking a step back 'Full Ripper mode.'

"But since you are already here…" he sighed and stepped back to allow Xander entrance.

After closing the door, Giles moved to the kitchen to prepare himself a cup of tea with Xander trailing behind him.

"Would you like a cup?" asked Giles fully expecting Xander to decline the offer. To his surprise Xander nodded and took a seat behind the kitchen table.

"Xander are you all right?" he frowned a little concerned.

"What? Oh yeah. It's just…trying to reorganize my thoughts." Then after a brief pause, while the other was brewing the tea, he began again. "This is nice. You drinking tea, the vampires and other assorted nastiness outside trying to eat unsuspecting people…it's so normal. Not like out there. SanFran is scary, on a major scale. Don't let me leave again, pleeeeease?"

The last sentence was accompanied with one of the widest puppy eyes Giles has ever seen. It was unnerving him a little to tell the truth. Xander was used to the supernatural, what could have happened to upset him so much?

With the tea ready, he served it in two cups and put one in front of the boy. In the time he had been busy with preparing the beverage, Xander had placed the book on the other end of the table while he continued to play with the small gift-wrapped package in his hands.

"What on earth happened to you, Xander?"

"Well there was this guy…" commenced Xander only to stop in the middle of the sentence.

"Yes?" Giles encouraged him.

"Well he said something, and then this other guy…well….he…"

"Xander I find it less complicated if you start at the beginning and then go from there," suggested Giles.

"Well I got in this shop to buy a present for Buffy and on my way out the owner said that maybe I wasn't, you know… that maybe I don't like girls. Then there was this other guy that like hit on me. I never thought before about this but they got me thinking…my love life is a mess. Every girl I ever dated tried to kill me. What if I got it wrong? What…"

"Xander, if you have woken me up because you want to discuss your sexuality, prepare for a very slow and painful death!" said Giles forcefully. "And what the hell happened to this book!? You know it's priceless!"

Xander looked lost for a moment then he turned angry. "Well that was when the vampires attacked me. This is only number, like, three on my list of things to discuss. Please pay attention!!"

Giles took of his glasses and started to polish them earnestly. "Number 3? How many numbers are there?"

"A lot. We begin at the easy stuff to progress then to the very difficult. So where was I? Oh yeah what if all this time someone was trying to tell me that I really should go for boys instead of girls? Giles do I give off a vibe?"

Giles'es polishing of glasses had intensified at the question and Xander distantly wondered if there was gonna be something left of them once they reach the end.

"Xander you are the only one to know the answer. If you like girls you like girls. If you like boy, well you like boys. Beside I don't think that I am the right person to ask those questions. Don't you think you would be more comfortable talking to the girls or your parents?"

Xander gave him a disbelieving look, like he couldn't believe that Giles had just said that.

"Are you out of your mind? The girls would get exited and wanted to talk about boys with me and frankly gay or straight that is one conversation I don't want to have with them. Beside I always thought that you dabbled on the other side a little."

"Why? Because I prefer proper English to what you Americans use, and I happen to dress in proper clothes?"

When Xander was about to respond Giles stopped him with a motion of his hand. "Forget it. If you don't want to talk to the girls why not approach your parents?

This time Xander couldn't stop the snort that rose from his throat. "Do you want me dead? Or worse disowned and living under your roof?"

"Certainly it's not that bad."

The boy shook his head. "Man you really are clueless about certain things. Did you think that I spent all those nights at Willows house just because she was my best friend? Or that I camped out-side every New Year just for the fun of it?"

To be perfectly honest Giles never thought about it. He knew that Willows parents were always absent and that Xander parents neglected him, but he never suspected that there was something else there. 'Didn't you?' asked him a voice. 'Or you just ignored the signs?'

"Xander, your parents…do they…?"

Instead of answering him Xander seems annoyed by the question. "Not you too! Could you concentrate on the topic at hand? And to answer your previous question, no I didn't think you might dabble until the band candy incidnet when Ripper came out to play. Then it was like bang! Everything fell into place."

"Ripper?" asked Giles taken aback. He wasn't sure how to react to that. The only time he had 'dabbled' as Xander put it, was in his Ripper days with Ethan. But how on earth had Xander picked up on it? "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"I don't know. It was just there. The way you reacted to Ethan and he to you. I don't know how to explain it. Does that mean that I'm gay and that I have a gaydar?"

"As I said before only you can tell which side of the fence you play. I doubt that you are gay. You like girls too much. But there is a third option that you are bi. That you…dabble…on both ends."

"Does that mean that, since demons seemed to be attracted to me I may be omnisexual like captain Jack Harkness?"

"For the love of God! Enough! This is all that I am prepared to say on the subject. Now can we move on to the number two on your list?" asked Giles desperately.

"Sure. I have to say that that was kind of disturbing on so many levels. Like, talking to your parents about sex. On the other hand it was a bonding event. In a not naughty sexual way!"

Giles restarted to compulsively clean his glasses.

"Right," said Xander. "Moving on…. You remember the guy that sold me the gift for Buffy? Well there was something wrong with him, hell there was something wrong with the entire shop."

"What do you mean?" Giles was almost afraid to ask the question.

"Well at the beginning it was like any other shop I have ever been into. I was browsing for a gift for Buffy, and quite frankly I was getting desperate, when there it was. It was like it appeared out of nowhere. The perfect gift. A necklace with a very old looking cross that had something inscribed in it. It was just so Buffy… then the owner come up and wrapped it for me all the while going on about how nobody ever noticed it and how it was waiting for the right owner or something like that.

To tell you the truth I wasn't paying much attention. On my way out his two assistants returned caring something that looked like the Black Orlov, again I didn't pay much attention. While the shop door was closing behind me the owner said something that made me look back and 'bang' just like that the store was gone."

"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"

"You know puff. One second it was there, the next I was looking at a brick wall."

"Do you remember anything else about the shop?" asked Giles, dutifully returning to his cleaning glasses duty.

"Huh let's see….Oh the owners name was Blackie, he said something about owning a café before he bought the shop…"

Xander stopped in his tracks when he heard the sound of broken glass. He incredulously stared at Giles. After all that they did, after all his failed attempts this is what got him to broke his glasses? To be perfectly honest he was a little disappointed.

"Blackie, you say?" asked Giles flustered.

"Yeah, know him?"

"I may have met him. Can I see the cross?"

Xander gave him the small box that he has been playing with since his arrival. "That's another thing. After I returned to the house I tried to open the damn thing, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. I figured it was a 'only the addressee can open it' thing. What do you think?"

Giles played with the box for a little while, trying to bring himself to open it, to no avail. His hands just wouldn't listen to him. Giving up he put the box on the table. "I would say that is a fairly accurate guess."

"Is there a possibility that the item is cursed? Cause if it is, Buffy will skin me… slowly."

"If it is the same Blackie that I know I doubt that there is something to worry about. But leave the box here and I will check it out latter, to be sure."

"That sounds great!" was relieved Xander. "Say, this guy, does he know things? I mean he was the one that started the whole number one question thing. Is he usually right?"

"As I said I only met him the once and I thought that the number one matter has been resolved. Why don't we pass to the number three?"

"Number three… number three… oh yeah, your book friend is very creepy."

"And?"

"And what?"

"That's it? He is creepy?" asked Giles going for his glasses again before remembering that there was no more glass to clean he opted for a temple massage. "Xander you said that you were going to get from the easiest topics to ones that are more difficult!"

"I did?" at Giles glare he smiled for the first time since he got there. It stuck Giles as odd, since one thing that he could always count on was Xanders easy smile and a quick, smart ass, remark. Both of which were absent from this conversation.

He really looked at the boy for the first time this morning and for a moment a stranger was staring back at him. Then as if a curtain was drawn the stranger disappeared and in his place was the old Xander again.

At that moment, he realized that for a second he was able to see the real Xander. Not the clown he pretended to be, or the mask he wore, and he cursed himself for not noticing it sooner.

His charge was Buffy, but that didn't exonerate him from being so blind toward the boy. He was right there, with Buffy and Willow but somehow he never paid much attention to him and when he did it was negative, like in the case of the love spell. He really didn't mean to be so harsh on him, the topic just hit to close to home for comfort.

But the fact remained that the boy was growing right under his nose and he never noticed it. At first, he believed, the mask of the clown was just a defense mechanism that protected him from the outside word, but in time, it become a weapon to mask his abilities. A way for the enemy to underestimate him.

Somewhere along the line he turned the defense mechanism in a weapon, and no one, not even his closest friends saw the switch, because on the outside nothing changed. On the inside …… well on the inside there was some major reconstruction taking place and Giles wondered what exactly was changing.

"Giles! Yo are you still in there? G-man!"

"What?"

"You spaced out Giles. Still thinking about your friend?"

"Who, no nothing like that. So you were saying?"

"I was saying that I decided to go chronologically rather then for importance, so that I won't leave anything out. Any way as I told you, your friend kicked me out of the shop as soon as he found the book and then a moment latter he reopened it giving me a stake it was like he was psychic or something because the next thing I know there were three vampires behind me."

"Oh my, what happened?" asked Giles.

"You mean how did I survive the attack? With my formidable Kung-Fu fighting of course."

At Giles skeptical look he amended his version a little. "Well I had help. The first one was easy. Must have been a fledge. I just taunted him a little and he run straight into the stake. I didn't even have to move a muscle. Then the second one attacked and this was a heady one. I almost didn't make it. He got distracted for a moment and I was able to dispose of him. Pure luck."

Xander paused, taking his first gulp of the tea, promptly spiting it out. "Oh God, how can you drink this stuff?" he inquired wandering to the fridge to retrieve a can of soda. "Are you trying to poison me?"

"Yes well sorry to offend your delicate palate." Bit back Giles. "Why don't we return to the vampires?"

"What vampires?" asked Xander frantically.

"Xander would you stop playing around and tell me what happened with the last vampire?"

"It was gone. When I turned around to confront that last vampire standing, he wasn't standing anymore. In his place was this guy… he killed the last vampire."

"A fellow hunter, then?" guessed Giles.

"I don't know. The guy was a little off. When I asked him what was he doing he said something about following the impure creatures, waiting for them to broke the rules. Whatever that means."

This time Giles spitted the tea that he had just drunk. "Eww Giles what the hell are you doing? I know that the tea is awful but you should be used to it by now!" said Xander mentally adding another point to his mental count. First he got Giles to break his glasses and now he made him do something improper, like spilling the tea. That, if he wasn't mistaken, was a crime punishable by death in England. He was so on the roll!

"Can you describe him for me?"

"I can do better than that. Do you remember Jack O'Toole?"

"Never heard of him. Who is he?" asked Giles.

"He was the zo….uhmm a bully in the school." he amended.

Xander had all but forgotten that he never told the others about that night. "Of course why would you know him? Just because he was the bane of my life doesn't mean that others knew him," babbled Xander. Giles bullshit matter was tingling painfully, but he decided to let it go for the time being.

"Anyway he is a splitting image of him, just a little older. We should have a yearbook in the library, he should be there," concluded Xander.

"Was there any other thing that you remember about him? Something that struck you as add?"

"Well I don't believe he was human, for starters. He was … how should I put it… he was sniffing me like a dog. It was disconcerting. He was acting like me, in that hyena incident, that we agreed not to mention again. Only difference was that he had control. Even if it was uncomfortable, what with him hitting on me and the sniffing I knew that he wasn't going to hurt me."

"How can you be so sure about that" was skeptical Giles.

"I just knew it. Or maybe it was the fact that be made me believe it."

"What do you mean?"

"After we talked for a while I blacked out and when I came to there was another guy with us. Jack's look-alike said that I fainted, but I know how it feels to faint and that wasn't it."

Remembering what he just said he blushed. "Not that I ever fainted. I lost consciousness a couple of times in a very manly manner."

"Yes, yes what do you remember about the other man?"

Xander pouted for a second. He poured all his considerable skill in that remark and it didn't even register with Giles. Maybe he was loosing his touch, or maybe the night.. morning was getting to Giles.

"He was tall with black hair and eyes. I think that his name is Julian. The other man seemed very respectful toward him. Not that I waited around to study them, it was just his body language…Giles?"

Giles was staring at him with wide eyes, than he doubled over and started to laugh. Xander seemed to have acquired a gift for making people laugh. First Derek, then …. Then who? The memory was escaping him, which appeared not to be true about the headache. Every time he tried to recall the event his head started to hurt like there was no tomorrow. And if that wasn't enough it looked like Giles was nowhere finished with the cracking up.

" Now I have done it." said Xander. "I have broken the Watcher. Buffy will have another reason to hurt me now."

"Sorry Xander. It's just unbelievable… I mean only you…oh dear. Did they say something else?"

"No, nothing that could help. But I have this nagging feeling that I know the other mans name. It's there, just out of reach," said Xander frustrated, as another tide of pain assaulted him. "Damn." He cursed as he took the head in his hands.

"It's okay Xander," said Giles standing and putting his hand on the boys shoulder. "Don't force yourself, it will come to you."

"So they are not the bad guys?" asked Xander.

"No, they are not. If they are who I believe they are, they are a neutral force that has a peace treaty signed with the Council."

"So if I see them again I shouldn't run away from them screaming bloody murder?"

"That will be unwise. I am almost afraid to ask, but could we move to the next event on the list?"

Xander's shoulders stiffened and that, more then anything that night, set Giles on alert. The next topic was going to be a tough one. The boy was obviously advert to breach the subject and from the themes that they had gone through this evening that didn't inspire the Watcher with hope.

"Xander what is it?"

The Scooby nervously tapped his finders on the table. They reached the final two topics and he really didn't know how to start this conversation. Trying not to look in the others man eyes he got up and turned around.

"I think it's late. School will start in a short while and I don't want to be late. Snider 'the troll' is out for my blood again. What do you say we talk about this later, after patrol maybe?"

"Xander avoiding the topic is not going to help."

"I know… and I told you anything that could be important to the Scoobys. The other two topics are kind of personal. And don't worry, no more gay talk, promise."

Xander stood up and took another gift wrapped object from his back-pack. "This is for Willow," he explained at Giles raised eyebrows. "After patrol we will come here to pick up the gifts. It will be suspicious if only Buffys pressy was here."

Giles wanted to protest but Xander stopped him. "When they are gone we can conclude this talk. Ah and another thing, I almost forgot. Don't know if it's important but the vamps in San Francisco knew who I was."

"What do you mean?"

"They called me The White Knight."

"Why would they call you that?" asked Giles confused.

At that point Xander was to tired to lie or avoid answering the question. "It's what Angelus called me in the hospital, when Buffy was sick. Hate that nick-name!" he mumbled as he approached the door. "See you in school, and don't be late. I am not the only one who's blood Snyder is out for."

Left alone with his thoughts Giles let out a sigh. The fact that the vampires recognized Xander was worrying. It meant that the Scoobies were gaining notoriety in the supernatural circles, which on one hand was good. Demons were reluctant to confront an opponent that is known to be powerful. On the other hand there were a lot of trill hunters, always searching for the next big prey.

Somehow this worried him more than Xanders gift for Buffy, or his encounter with the San Francisco Prince.

Xander set down on a bench in front of the still deserted school. 'Nice going' he thought. 'Giles will think that I am loosing it, especially after I breach the subject of the psychic powers tonight.'

He shook his head trying to clear it. The more he concentrated on something else, more his thoughts turned on Ethan. How was he going to begin the conversation? How to bring him up, without mentioning Derek and his family? At least not right away.

Zilch. He couldn't not think about it and he couldn't find a suitable solution. Exhausted, he finally gave up and closed his eyes for a second, that stretched to minutes and then an hour, until a pair of strong small hands covered his eyes and a sweet voice sing-songed: "Guess who?"

He quickly stood up to face the source of the voice only to be tackled by two warm bodies. Loosing his balance for a moment, he regain it just in time to stop them from tumbling over.

"Whooo girls careful." He said admonishly while at the same time hugging them back with a face splitting smile. He had missed his girls a lot, even if he was gone only for a couple of days.

"Well look at that," said a sniderly voice. "The three musketeers reunited!"

Xander rose his gaze from the shower of blond and red hair and smiled angelically: "Why Cordy so nice of you to notice that I was gone. Miss me?"

The Queen C just snorted and walked away, leaving behind a very confused ensemble.

"Okay … is it just me or the Ice Queen is a lot less icy this morning?

The girls looked at each other guiltily.

"What?"

"See when we didn't see you coming to school we asked around if anyone saw you," said Willow looking at her shoes.

"And?" prompted Xander.

"And when we couldn't found you anywhere and nobody answered the phone at your home we sorta … like panicked a little."

"Understandably, especially in this town, but what I want to know is why the long, guilty faces?"

"We may have, sorta, like forgot to tell her afterword, that we got in touch with you and that you were okay."

He looked at them for a moment then caught the retreating back of his ex-girlfriend feeling a ping of guilt himself. Even if she played the part of the Ice Queen Xander knew that, that was all it was. A part. A sharp pain in his side made him looked down at his two best friends.

"Talk to us mister. Castle, San Francisco, prezies. Not necessarily in that order."

Depositing his arms around their shoulders he guided them toward the school grinning maniacally.

"Well prepared to be awed by the adventures of Xander in the big city." He said and launched in a vivid description of his short stay in SF, leaving out everything supernatural, like the vampires, the freaky shop thing and, most of all, the psychic thing. Not even considering the gay thing…well okay all things considered he didn't have much to tell. Bless the Gods that the girls seemed content to know that the prezies awaited them at Giles house.

The day went smoothly as any high school day could go for him. He was ambushed by Snider as soon as he split with the girls, the teacher prepared a surprise pop quiz that he had no idea how to solve and in his half an hour break he avoided his sanctuary in the library and Giles, which put him in the school cafeteria at the same time as the Cordettes. Not a fun memory.

If for whatever reason she held back this morning that reason seemed to be gone, since she viciously renewed her attacks on him. For a little while he held her pace, but his heart just wasn't in it today so in the middle of a discussion he did something that he had never even considered before. He walked away.

At least the rest of the school went without a hitch. That, or Xander was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice it. The last bell rang and the students hurried out as if they were chased by vampires. Buffy was no exception. After agreeing to meet at Giles before patrol she hurried home saying something about a shopping spree, closely followed by Willow.

Xander remained sitting in the classroom alone and not really sure about what he should do. He didn't feel like going home, his father was still a little pissed about the incident in San Francisco. Giles was also out. He wanted to postpone their next meeting for as long as possible.

Suddenly he felt like someone was watching him. Raising his head he was just in time to see Cordelia walking out of the classroom.

Debating the pro and cons of a day spent alone versus a day spent being abused by his ex-girlfriend he pretty quickly came to the conclusion that right now he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts. Grabbing his bag he hurried after the cheer leader.

Speeding up he finally caught her outside the school. Thankfully she was alone, no Cordettes in sight.

"Hey there, Cordy," he whizzed. "Where are you going?"

Cordelia spun around, already with a poisoned remark on her tongue, when something in his expression made her stop. She studied him for a moment then reassumed walking toward the parking lot, confident that he will follow her.

"I'm going to the mall. Not that it's any of your business, dweeb."

"What a coincidence!" he exclaimed, grinning like an idiot. "I'm going the same way. Would you mind giving me a ride?"

She seemed to hesitate for a moment then she sighed annoyingly, "I suppose it will be okay. I need someone to help me with my bags anyway."

"God forbid that the Ice Queen should carry her own bags. I think that's the sign of an approaching apocalypse."

"Keep that up and you will have to run behind the car all the way to the shopping center," she threatened him, but he could fell the smile behind the threat.

Once they reached the mall Cordelia made good on her promise and dragged him from shop to shop, making him carry her bags and kept him entertained with a constant banter.

For the first time since he got back from San Fran Xander felt truly relaxed. He even managed to forget Giles and their upcoming conversation for a while, but as it is all good things have to come to an end.

After buying another pair of shoes Cordelia decided that she had all that she needs and directed Xander toward the car. The Scooby gratefully dumped the heavy burden into the car and massaged his aching arms.

"You coming or what?" asked Cordelia already behind the wheel. "If you don't want to run all the way home for real, you better get in the car now."

Xander wasn't going to argue with her, she was capable of really dumping him here. He scrambled into the car and fastened his seat belt. Once he was securely sitting he scowled at her. "Geez Cordy, no need to thank me for helping you."

"Oh please, as if. I was the one helping you with your post traumatic depression. You should thank me! And look at the time! I am already late for the Bronze party. It's all your fault. I just have enough time to drive you home before getting ready."

"The Magic box," he murmured.

"What?"

"Not home, you can leave me at The Magic box, you will save on time."

She glanced at him concerned then returned her attention to the road. "At least that's something."

Xander shook his head and smiled. Some things never changed, and Cordy was one of them.

Xander focused all his attention the street light passing by his window and didn't even winch as Cordy almost run over a stop sign. After all, he was used to live dangerously.

All to soon they reached The Magic box. Xander looked at the building. He never thought about it before, but the shop did look a little imposing.

"Well, are you going in or are you permanently setting camp in my car?"

Xander glanced at Cordy's annoyed look and he dejectedly stepped out. You don't argue with Queen C when she is in the mood.

Before closing the door, he leaned back in and smiled at her, "Thanks for today Cordy."

"If you were really grateful, you would close that door and let me go," she snapped.

He grinned at her and closed the door, jumping out of the way when the car speeded away before the door was even properly closed.

"Must be some party..." he murmured.

Xander glanced toward the shop entrance, took a deep breath and entered into the lion's den.

Buffy and Willow where already there. They were talking excitingly to Giles, who, for his part, had a pained expression on his face. Xander figured that they were probably talking about shoes or dresses. He hid a smirk. Poor Giles, he doubted that when the Watcher signed up for Slayer duty he imagined that this was part of his job descriptions.

The man in question choose that moment to look up and upon seeing Xander his face was flooded with such relief that he couldn't help himself. The half hidden smirk extended and become a full fledged snicker.

The girls turned around and flew into his embrace. "Whoa. What is this for?" asked Xander barely able to breathe.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" they chanted excitedly while jumping slightly up and down.

Xander must have still looked slightly confused because Giles helpfully supplied, "They really liked their gifts."

"So, it was okay?"

"Yes." Giles nodded. "Now, would you girls be so kind as to let Xander go, so we can discuss tonight's patrol?"

They reluctantly let go and followed the librarian into his living room all the while murmuring about slave drivers and party poopers. Well at least Buffy was, Willow had her deep thinking face on.

'Any second now,' thought Xander.

"What was okay?" she asked and Xander smiled. 'Bingo!' that was his Willow.

"The gift," he replied shortly. Plausible deniability.

"Oh you brought a gift for Giles too! Can we see it? Can we see it?" was excited Willow turning to Giles.

"Really children, we don't have time for this. We really should start patrolling," chided Giles, looking displeased.

"Okay, okay … we are going to start at the cemetery close to the university and then go to the one near the gothic church. Someone that died of wild animal attack was buried there today, so we might have a rising, sometime after midnight. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, quite," said Giles polishing his new glassed.

"Come on, guys."

"Ah Xander, would you terribly mind staying behind and help me with something?"

Xander stopped dead in his step. 'Here we go.'

"Oh, oh, oh can I help you instead?" immediately volunteered Willow.

"I am afraid that there are some boxes full of books to be mov…."

"That's me, that's definitely me. I am the book girl. Let me help you."

"Yes, but I am afraid that the books have to be actually moved and not read."

"Come on Willow," said Buffy, grabbing her friends arm and starting to drag her toward the door. "We will make it an all girls out night, while they will have an all boys night in. It will be fun!"

"But books…" Willow protested weakly.

"We will go through them this week end during our research party." Giles reassured her.

This seemed to convince her and she followed Buffy out, leaving the other two alone.

As soon as the door closed behind the girls Xander started to fidget. "Soo…."

"Yes, the books are in the attic."

"Wait! There are actual book movage?"

"But of course, my boy. Did you think that I made the whole thing up just so I could talk to you?"

"Well… never mind. Lead the way G-man."

Giles wanted to protest, but then saw the futility of it and just shook his head. Protesting never got him anywhere, now revenge on the other hand….

* * *

An hour latter Xander collapsed on the couch. He was exhausted. Who knew that knowledge could be so heavy. He shot a dark glance at Giles, who was looking fresh and rested despite caring as many boxes as him.

Narrowing his eyes he studied the Watchers face more closely. Was there a smug smirk concealed under all that Britishness?

Giles handed him a soda and sat on the chair opposite to the couch.

"Now I believe it's time to finish our conversation from this morning."

Xander was staring at the soda can as if it held all the answers in the universe. Giles was about to nudge him when the boy spoke.

"Do you know if maybe Ethan had any relatives here? I mean in America?"

The question took Giles by surprise. From all the questions that he didn't expect this was one that really took him by surprise.

"Why?"

"I met someone in San Francisco. He had the same surname as Ethan."

"You mean Rayne? Xadner I hate to point that out but even if Rayne is not a very common surname in America, there are a lot of people that have it."

"You mean people that have an accent and are in the know about the supernatural?"

This stopped Giles cold. An ugly suspicion started to raise its head in the pit of Giles stomach.

"Xander, what exactly was this man's name?"

"Derek. Why, do you know him?"

Xander saw Giles take off his glasses and starting to polish them furiously. It wasn't long before a loud crack was heard in the otherwise silent room. Normally Xander would have cheered about his achievement, but right now he was terrified. Terrified, that the only branch of the family that he liked, might be an agent of the evil.

"Giles?"

"Where exactly did you meat this person?"

Xander ignored the question and instead focused on the bit that mattered the most to him. "Are they evil?"

"What do you mean - they?"

"What?" asked Xander, trying to gain some time.

"Stop staling and tell me what you meant by 'they'."

Xander cursed. He so didn't want to go into this right now. "Giles, please. Just a simple word. Evil. Not evil. What it's gonna be?"

"They aren't evil," sighed Giles.

"But?" insisted Xander.

Seeing as he was not going to get anywhere with his questioning until he gave Xander an answer Giles said: "He is part of a secret organization called 'The Legacy'. They have been around for almost as long as the Watchers."

"Yes?"

"They practically do the same thing as the Watchers do. Only they focus their attention on ghosts and demonic possessions and artifacts more than vampires and actual demons."

"Okay, so they are the good guys. But I still sense a 'but' in there. So, out with it."

"The Council and The Legacy don't really play well together. The Legacy view the use of magic as a corruption and the idea of using a Slayer… well you can imagine."

"What about the Council? What do they have against the Legacy?" asked Xander, now a little calmer now that his new shiny family wasn't in danger to become the next Satan worshipers cult.

"They think that The Legacy is intruding on a field that is by right theirs and they think that they are not really … up to the challenge."

"What about you? What do you think?"

"I think that they complement nicely each other. We take on the more physical end of the equation and they deal with the exorcisms and such. Now that I have answered all your questions would you tell me how you met them?"

"Well you knew that there was this party in San Francisco and that our family was invited. Well it turns out that my mom is a distant relative of the Rayne family. Very distant."

"Well my world. That's quite an extraordinary coincidence."

"You could say that, but you still didn't answer to my original question. Is there any relations between them and Ethan?"

"Distant, very distant as you would say. I remember that in our wild days they organized an intervention of sorts to straighten him up. Get him away from the magic and my influence."

"Whoa Giles. Wasn't he the one with the bed influence?"

"Well… not at the time. I was in my rebellious stage. Luckily I grew out of it. Ethan on the other hand…"

"… grew into it?" supplied Xander.

"Exactly!" he exclaimed.

"Ehm Giles? Are you sure that it's allowed to be British and that exited?"

At the murderous look that the older man sent his way Xander lifted his hands in surrender and laughed, "Kidding. Just kidding. So does this mean that I am related to Ethan?"

Giles smirked: "You better be," then he turned serious. "As you said your family is a distant relation to the Raynes and so is he. Chances are that you are not related at all."

"There is always the possibility that we are distant in the same direction. That would mean that we are close."

"Since Ethan is originally from England I highly doubt it. So what is the next topic of our bonding experience?"

"Next?"

"Xander, no matter how uncomfortable the topic of Ethan is for me, it shouldn't make you run away and avoid me. So what is the next and possibly last topic?"

"I have to say that it surprised me how calmly you accepted the Ethan topic. I imagined that it will contain more… I don't know, screaming and disbelieving, a little bit of denial…"

"Xander," Giles admonish him. "If you don't comfy in me I can't help you."

"From what you told me you know Derek."

"Yes, but I don't see what this has anything to do with you."

"So you know that he is psychic," he continued, as if Giles hadn't spoken.

"Has he seen something?"

"No, I mean yes."

"Xander, can you be a little more coherent?"

Frustrated, the boy jumped to his feet and started pacing the living room all the while muttering to himself.

"Was it something about the ascension?" asked Giles making Xander stop for a moment and look at him.

"What? No, no. It was about the Master. It had nothing to do with the present or the future. It's probably nothing to worry about. It's just that, well when he touched me, there was this thing and then he was going on and on about how I may be psychic – maybe – and how evil is attracted to psychic and such. And then it got me thinking about the 'demon magnet' joke and maybe – if I really am psychic it wasn't so much a joke as a reality and then everyone that I will be involved with will be evil and they will lay eggs in me and eat me and…"

"Xander!"

"What?"

"Breath. You are hyperventilating."

"Okay, breathing. In and out. In and out. Good, breathing is good."

Giles grabbed the boy and seated him on the couch passing him the half empty soda can.

"Here drink," he ordered the panicked kid.

Despite the situation a small smile escaped Xander as he put the beverage down without taking a sip. "I am not sure that more sugar is good for me right now. I'm jumpy enough as it is."

"Yes, quite right. Look Xander, if you believe me or not there are quite lot people that have psychic talents. Most of them are not even aware of it. If you were a powerful psychic then I am sure that your gift would already manifest itself in some form, like prophetic dreams or visions."

"Are you sure?" asked Xander in a weak voice.

"Yes, I mean almost a hundred percent. But if it will make you feel better we can always do some research and experiments latter, after the ascension is over."

"You mean if we survived it," laughed Xander, already feeling a little better.

"Yes."

"Cool. Thanks Giles."

"Anytime. Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes. I would never have believed that stepping back into the shoes of the normal one will be this liberating," Xander looked around the apartment searching for something more to say then decided that he gave Giles all the important information and that if he forgot something he could always speak to him tomorrow. Standing up and stretching he moved toward the exit.

"Well it's getting late, I better leave."

"Do you want a ride?" asked Giles.

"No, I'm good. It's not like I never walk home alone. Besides, lately there weren't a lot of incidents. I guess it's the quiet before the storm."

"Good night Xander and be careful."

"Night."

Giles watched the retreating teen with worry. He didn't want to spook Xander so he acted like everything was all right but in reality he was a little worried. No one, not even Xander, could have that kind of bad or good luck. He had found Blackie and had somehow managed to meet with the Kindred Prince of the city.

Normally he would dismiss Derek's worries as normal Legacy overreacting, but thinking back to all the monsters and supernatural beings that were attracted to the boy he begun to wonder…

Shaking himself he closed the door. No time for this now. They have to figure out this mayor deal or there won't be anything left to worry about. Sighing he sat down and picked up the volume that Xander had brought him from San Francisco.

Legacy house

Derek sat up in bed, covered in sweat. He needed a couple of minutes to calm his racing heartbeat and to get his emotions back in check.

He laid back down and run his fingers through his hair. What the hell was going on? He saw Xander, dressed up for graduation leading a group of graduates against an army of vampires. What was the kid involved in?

With shaky hand he dressed himself and descended into the command room. It was time that he looked into Xanders life a little more closely outside his home and school life.

Tbc…


	7. Family reunion

Many, many thanks to Salamander Hanzo, Quathis, salamander, calileane, Rivana and Calmest Card for their reviews on the 6th chapter. I am really happy that you liked it.

A special thanks to Quathis for the awesome and quick beta reading. Thank you. Thank you, thank you.

On with the story…

~~~ LEGACY HOUSE ~~~

Derek pushed the chair back and started pacing nervously. Normally the sight of his boss pacing would send Nick in full red alert, but considering that the older man has been at it for the best part of the week told Nick that there wasn't any apocalyptic event in their near future and that Derek would talk to him when he was ready.

"I don't get it!" exclaimed the Percept. "On the outside Sunnydale is a nice little Californian town, but you dig a little deeper and you get animal attacks, exsanguinations and missing bodies from the morg - not to talk about the death rate."

"You checking on Xander?"

"No, not specifically. I looked up the entire town."

"And?"

"For a little town it sure has a lot of gangs on PCP. Something is fishy there."

"Hu-huh."

"Hu-huh? This is all you have to say? Hu-huh!" Derek asked disbelievingly, than noticing Nick's expression, he narrowed his eyes. "What are you not telling me?"

"Maybe I have an answer to the mystery that's Sunnydale," said Nick after a few seconds of consideration. "When I saw the stats of the town I too got a little curious so I dug in the towns past and guess what I found?"

Nick typed a couple of words on his keyboard and the research on Sunnydale, also known as La Boca del Infierno, popped out on the main screen.

"Dear God, Xander is living on an active Hellmouth! Why the hell didn't you tell me? We just sent him back to a place crawling with demons that can't wait to munch or mate with him. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that he lived in that place since he was a kid and he is still alive."

When he saw Derek was about to protest he stopped him. "And that he has back up."

"Back up? What kind of back up would he have? There is no Legacy house there!"

Nick shook his head. His boss was one of the more intelligent people he ever met. He spoke a ton of dead languages, he was a great strategist and a solid fighter, but when it came to the Legacy he was a little blindfolded.

"I wasn't talking about the Legacy."

"Then what?"

Nick keyed another word and the picture of a blond girl appeared on the screen

"Meet Elizabeth 'Buffy' Summers. An airheaded blond cheerleader on the outside, a troubled, tormented girl on the inside. She burned down her previous school gym right in the middle of the school dance before being transferred to Sunnydale high, where she keeps collecting trouble after trouble after trouble," he said clicking some of the more spectacular charges on the screen.

"Great, Xander is running with the town trouble maker. I still don't see how this is supposed to make me feel better."

"Wait. I am not done yet. Next up is a Mr. Rupert Giles, school librarian that before being employed by our educational system worked as a curator at the British museum in London. He transferred there soon after miss. Summers posted her application to the local high school."

"Wait! Did you just say Rupert Giles?"

"You know him?"

"You could say that. He was a close friend of someone I knew. He's bad… wait! Are you suggesting that he is a Watcher and that Buffy girl is the Slayer?"

"Ding-ding-ding."

Derek glared at him making Nick raise his arms in surrender. "Sorry, not the place or time… but yes, that's what I am suggesting.

"Dear God."

"Seems like the fight against the dark forces runs in the family," remarked Nick. "So what are you going to do?"

"No, you don't understand. I have been having visions for the past couple of weeks. I saw scenes of Xander fighting demons and vampires at his graduation ceremony. It never made sense, until now."

"Do you think that something big is coming?"

Thinking back to the enormous snake like creature that he saw in his vision he nodded. "Definitely something big."

"What do you want to do? The hellmouth is Watchers territory. They won't be happy if you storm all over it."

"Then they should have thought twice about involving my underage nephew into their fight! Get all the equipment ready. We are leaving in one hour for Sunnydale."

"But the graduation is in a couple of days," protested Nick.

"All the better. I will have time to have a couple of choice words with our friendly Watcher."

~~~ SUNNYDALE LIBRARY ~~~

Xander leaned back in his chair, away from the book he had been pretending to read, and took a moment to study the people in the library. His companions.

Willow and Giles were hunched over a dusty looking book, discussing animatedly about something or other and a short distance away Buffy was drooling all over one of G-mans precious books.

He sighed. Things were finally falling back to normal, or as normal as apocalypse week can be. His father had settled down, he was getting used to the idea that maybe he was a little psychic and the tsunami that was caused by Anya's revelation about the ascension died down to waves.

If he was honest, her leaving Sunnydale had hurt him. On the other hand he could understand how she felt. Sometimes he wondered himself why he stays. Then his gaze traveled to the girls and Giles and he knew the answer. He could never abandon them. They were his choice family, not connected by blood, but by something equally powerful.

"Buffy, for the love of Gods!"

Xander grinned. Giles had finally noticed his precious volume getting drooled on.

"Where, what?"

"Buffy if you are not in the mood for research you can always make a quick sweep of the cemeteries."

"But Giles, there aren't any vampires around, this being the pre-apocalypse time of the year, the quiet before the tempest and all that."

Giles seemed on the point of blowing a fuse so Xander intervened.

"And this is why I am going to patrol with you. What demon or vampire could resist all this?" he said pointing at his body. "Come on Buffster, we have vampires to dust and demons to slay!"

Before anyone could protest, he grabbed Buffy for the elbow and dragged her out of the house.

As soon as the two were out of the door, Giles run to the wounded book and lovingly clean it up with a handkerchief.

"Giles, did it ever occur to you that your love for the books borders a little to the pathological side?"

"I'll have you know that that was a very valuable 16th century book that was being corroded by bodily fluids!"

"Eww! When you say it like that it's even worse," protested Willow, making a disgusted face.

"Yes, well…as I was saying before, there is a vague reference to the ascension in this book…"

"But it doesn't really tell us anything," sighed Willow.

"No I am afraid not," concurred Giles, tiredly wiping his glasses.

"I suggest we take five minutes."

"Quite. I will make us some tea. Maybe taking our thoughts on other matters for a while will help us find the solution."

"Speaking on changing the subject…" trailed off Willow and Giles didn't have to be special Watcher trained to know he had just walked into a well planed trap. "What's up with Xander?"

"Whatever you mean?"

"I mean since he has come back from San Fran he has been behaving strangely. Had something happened to him while he was there?"

"Shouldn't you be asking him that?"

"I tried, believe me I tried, but he doesn't want to talk about it, whatever 'it' is, but he seemed very chummy with you these last couple of weeks. So what gives?" she pierced him with intense green eyes.

"I think that you will have to talk to Xander about it."

"But I already told you that he doesn't want to talk to me!" she whined.

"Then maybe you should respect his whishes."

"I know! But he is my best friend. We share everything and suddenly 'Bam' he doesn't talk to me anymore and I worry! Maybe he is ill and dying, or he has being impregnated by a she-demon or something equally disturbing."

"Willow, let me assure you that nothing of the kind had happened. It's nothing catastrophic or life threatening. It's … a change. A possible, not yet confirmed change."

Willow looked at him like he was crazy. "A change."

"Yes, quite."

Willow continued to stare at him for awhile, before her eyes suddenly got bigger and rounder and her mouth formed a perfect little 'O'.

"Ah a change," she said nodding sagely, before returning to the books and leaving Giles with two cups of streaming tea and no clue of what Willow meant.

~~~ SUNNYDALE CEMETARY ~~~

Xander and Buffy were walking in silence looking for possible disturbance in the peaceful night when suddenly Buffy broke the silence.

"So, what's up with you? You have been acting wired ever since you came back."

"It's all this end of the world crap, you know and coupled with the fact that this is the last year of high school and I have no clue what to do after I return from my trip…"

"Bull!"

"What?"

"I said that's bull. Something happened on your family trip. Something big."

"Look Buffy…"

"Is something I should be concerned with?"

"What?"

"I am your friend and I worry about you, but I am also a Slayer and I need to know if this is something I should worry about."

Buffy cast a glance at her friend afraid that she had offended him in some way. He didn't seem angry or hurt but she added a "Sorry." at the end just to be safe.

"Don't be sorry. I understand what you are saying. Soldier boy here – remember?" he grinned. "And to answer your question – no. It's nothing to worry about, just some personal stuff that I have to sort through, before I share it with you and Willow."

"But you shared it with Giles?"

"Uh yeah, I needed a grown-up opinion. Like when you talk to your mom."

"Gotcha! Hey I see movement. Maybe we didn't come out here for nothing."

And just like that she was gone, leaving Xander alone in the middle of the cemetery. He tried to run after her, but she was fast, way faster then him and at the end he gave up and rendezvous to their meeting point.

He was almost there when a hot breath on his neck made him stop dead. "Uhmm Buffy, please say it's you," he pleaded.

"No such luck pumpkin," said a hissing voice.

Xander first reaction was to run away as fast as he could, before deciding against it. The demon was way to close to him for a successful escape.

After a quick consideration of his options he grabbed the stake that he always carried with him and swiftly turned around slamming the weapon home.

When the thing didn't dust, dissolve in goo or scream in pain he knew he was in trouble.

"A wooden stake, young one?" the thing laughed. "My, aren't we old fashioned?"

Instead of retaliating the she-demon (there was no denying it anymore) hugged him tightly and caressed his cheek with her long slimly tongue. "Umm, but I wouldn't be adverse to the real thing," she murmured into his ear.

"Uhmm yeah, no. Thank you but no. I am just a little busy right now," he stammered, all the while thinking 'Buffy where the hell are you?'.

"Are you sure? Our coupling would be very, very pleasurable," she insisted, her hands begging to roam downward, cupping his ass.

"No!" he squeaked despite the fact that his neither regions were screaming Yes! Yes!

He so needed a girlfriend…

"You say that, but your body disagrees."

"Stop…" he moaned, unable to prevent himself from trusting his hips against hers.

"Hey ugly!" came an annoyed voice. "Get your hands off of him!"

"Oh look who is here. The big bad Slayer has arrived. I'm shaking!" the thing mocked her.

On the plus side she let go of Xander. Or was it a plus side? Xander's brain hadn't decided yet on the matter. All he knew was that without the support of the demon he wasn't able to stand up anymore and he collapsed on the ground.

"Xander? You okay?"

When no response was forthcoming she turned to the thing. "What did you do to him?" she demanded.

"Nothing…yet. We were just getting to the really interesting parts."

"Oh, so you are another she-demon that wants to mate with him."

"Demon!" the thing hissed. "I am no filthy demon!"

"Well if it qucks like a duck and it walks like a duck…."

"You children! What do the Watchers teach you these days, not even being able to recognize a Spirit when you see one."

"Aren't you a little bit too … solid to be a spirit?"

"Not that kind of spirit, little girl." The creature hissed, taking a menacing step toward the Slayer.

"In a minute it won't matter what kind of Spirit you are, because you will be history."

"Feisty little thing, aren't you? Well you are lucky, today I don't feel like fighting, Slayer. Good-bye and darling," it said turning to Xander. "I will see you soon."

And just like that the spirit/demon disappeared into tin air.

Buffy hurried to Xanders side and helped him up. "You okay?"

When she received only a groan in replay she began to worry. "Where are you hurt?"

"Not hurt," he managed to hiss.

"Then what…" she said before properly looking at him. "Oh… that's not a stake in your pants is it?"

"Uhmm…Giles…wash…off…now!"

"Did she just aphrodisiaced you?"

At the affirmative nod she relaxed a little. "Good, that's good. I was beginning to worry that you were starting to reciprocate the demon attraction thing."

"Buffy!" he moaned.

"Right, right. Less talking, more walking. Do you need help?"

Xander looked at her considering. Accepting Buffy's help would mean reaching Giles house much faster. On the other hand her proximity to him could cause embarrassing incidents.

The decision was taken from his hand when she just grabbed his arm and began to half carry him toward their destination. "Let's go."

While she was pulling him along certain parts of his body rubbed against her. Closing his eyes he prayed. 'Gods and Goddesses please let the hellmouth open beneath me and swallow me whole.'

Same time – Giles house

Giles and Willow were just going over one of the books when the door bell rung. The two exchanged a look and then moved in synchronism. Willow picked up a baseball bat while Giles chose a short sword that he could easily hide under his jacket.

Carefully they approached the door and with a last glance at each other, to make sure they were ready, Giles opened the door only to come face to face with the Precept of the San Francisco Legacy house.

"Mr. Giles," said Derek dryly, and it wasn't a question.

"Dr. Rayne," responded Giles in the same tone of voice.

"Mind if we came in?"

Giles was tempted to say no and close the door in the man's face, just to scratch that rebellious itch that still rose its ugly head from time to time. But then after studying the newcomers decided against it.

First of all it was childish and second of all judging from their stormy faces he doubted that they would react peacefully. Sighing loudly he stepped aside and motioned them inside.

Derek went in first with Nick right behind him with his hand on the gun, looking for possible threats.

As soon as he entered he begun to scan the room only to froze when his eyes settled on the other occupant of the room. Of all the possible and imaginable dangers lurking around, he never, in a million years, expected to see a pixie red-head brandishing a baseball bat.

The two stared at each other for what seemed eternity, then Willow begun to swing the bat counting each swing: 997, 998, 999 and 1000. Woo that was some hard work!"

When she noticed that everyone including Giles was staring at her she did what she normally do in this kind of situations. She began to babble.

"I was training for the school softball team. Only not, 'cause we still don't have one, but we might have one in the future and if or when there is one I am definitely in it! Playing."

"Willow!" shouted Giles, than continued more calmly. "It's okay. Why don't you go to the basement and try to find that book that we were talking about."

"The book?" Willow looked confused, then her eyes widened and she smiled. "The book, of course."

As soon as she was gone Derek turned to Giles. "A very lively girl."

"Yes, she is, but I doubt that you came all the way here because you wanted to talk about her. Shall we?" he asked motioning toward the sofa in the living room.

Derek sat on the couch while Nick preferred to remain standing behind him, keeping one watchful eye on the room, in case any unexpected dangers should arose.

"Can I offer you anything to drink?"

"No thank you. If it's all right with you I would like to directly tackle the reason why we are here. From your lack of reaction I wager that you remember me and that you know more or less why we are here?"

"If I have to guess I would say that it had something to do with Xander and his involvement with me."

"Right to the point, but then you were always a very direct person," said Derek, watching the Watchers face slowly gaining color.

"Yes well, that was a long time ago and I am a different person now. I paid for my sins in full and then same more."

"And yet you let my underage nephew and his friend, get involved in the supernatural. Not a very responsible action, if you ask me."

"Mr. Rayne if you know anything about your nephew then you understand that with him it's not so much about letting him do something as not being able to prevent him from involving himself. He is a very stubborn young man and once he found out about the dangers of this town he decided to do something about it.

"Frankly, if I have to choose between him running around town fighting by himself and in the dark or fighting with friends and with valid information's, I would choose the later."

Derek carefully studied the Watcher. He had come here with certain expectations about how this conversation will go and never in a million years had he imagined a rational and realistic explanation. To tell the truth he was a little stunned by the direction of the discussion.

There was no pompous superiority that he had learned to expect from all Council members and no wild, reckless arrogance that he associated to the younger version of the Watcher.

"But they are still kids and you send them everyday to a war that they are not equipped to fight, physically or mentally," said Nick, eyes blazing.

Giles only looked at him with sad eyes and shook his head. "Believe me I am well aware of that and if there was something, anything that I could do to stop them from daily risking their lives I would have done it a long time ago. As it is now all I can do is prepare them the best that I can."

"So you pat them on the back, give them same advice and send them out, while you sit here safe and sound!"

"Now look here…" started Giles, but was interrupted by a loud bang of the door opening and Xander running past them not even noticing the presence of his uncle, followed by Buffy who strolled in, in a more sedate pace, managing to even close the door behind her.

Giles, being used by now to the kids manners merely looked disapprovingly at Buffy, their guest on the other hand were startled by the sudden incursion. Derek rose from the couch ready to face the intruder, while Nick shifted into a fighting position, his hand disappearing into the jacked obviously going for the gun.

"Hey Giles, we are back and you wouldn't believe what happened to Xan…" she stopped in the middle of the sentence only then noticing the presence of the two unknown man, one of which screamed 'hunter' to her Slayer-senses.

Placing herself in the best position to attack if necessary she asked Giles, "Friends of yours?" all the while kipping an eye on her targets.

"Actually they are Xander's relatives from San Francisco."

"Oh, the ones living in the castle."

The elderly of the two man stepped around the couch and approached her with an extended hand, smiling. "Hi I am Derek Rayne, Xander's uncle and this is my associate Nick Boyle."

After throwing another questioning look at Giles she shook the offered hand, "Buffy, Xander's friend."

"Nice to meet you. Now what were you saying about Xander?"

"Huh? Oh Xander, yes. We were walking and he suddenly fell into a muddy puddle and got all dirty. That's why he run upstairs so quickly, to wash up all the icky mud. I hope it's all right with you Giles if Xander uses your bathroom," she asked the Watcher, distancing herself from the man and his associate. Xander's uncle or not, the man was making her nervous.

"Yes it's quite all right."

"A puddle huh? That's strange considering it hasn't rained for weeks," said Nick.

"Yes well someone must have spilled some water there recently."

"And he just happened to stumble into it?" snorted Nick.

"Yeah well that's our Xander."

"Cut the crap!"

"Excuse me?" shrieked Buffy.

"Really Mr. Boyle."

"Nick!"

And then things shot really to hell. With people shouting at one another and menacing painful bodily injuries. Willow alarmed by all the commotion raced toward the living room only to find it descended into complete chaos.

After listening to the flying insults for what appeared to be hours she had it enough and closing her eyes she concentrated on her power and shouted, "Silencio!" efficiently silencing the entire room.

The Legacy members looked at each other in utter surprise at their loose of voice while Giles and Buffy immediately focused their attention on Willow.

"That's better! Now if you'll promise to act like civilized adults and calmly talk about what's bothering you I will lift the spell and…."

"Willow? What's going on?" asked Xander.

Willow whirled around and came face to face with a puzzled Xander, but before she could respond his gaze traveled to the other end of the room where his uncle and Nick were furiously trying to speak.

"Derek? What are you doing here?" he asked surprised and when all he got for an answer was some pretty wild hand signs he once again turned to his oldest friend.

"Willow, what did you do?"

"Nothing," she said defensively, crossing her arms under her chest.

"Willow…"

"It was just a tiny tiny silencing spell. You should have heard them screaming and threatening…"

Xander just looked at her with one of his rare stern expressions and Willow capitulated. "Okay, okay I will end it," she huffed and concentrated once again, meanwhile Xander took the chance to study the newcomers.

He knew the day they left San Francisco that he hadn't heard the last from his uncle, but in a million years he didn't imagine that he was going to see them this soon or in person for that matter.

Sighing heavily he massaged his forehead. This was not good. If before his uncle was worried about him and magic now, after Willow's display, he was afraid to imagine what his reaction was gonna be once he was able to speak again.

Suddenly a gentle warm breeze swopped the room and the silence was broken.

"What the hell!" shouted Nick. "What are you playing at?"

"Well it's your fault! Try acting like a grown up."

Seeing the potential of this becoming another shouting match Giles intervened before anymore magic could cast or before Nick lost his temper and started shooting.

"Kids, that's enough!" he shouted, making Willow and Nick freeze on the spot. "Buffy, can you accompany Willow home? I think that we are done for today."

The Slayer wanted to protest but the she saw his serious explosion and nodded obediently. "Come on Willow, let's go," she said grabbing the girl for the arm.

"But Xander…."

"He will stay here, with his relatives… from San Francisco."

Willow's eyes grow bigger and rounder as she looked at the guests, surprised.

"They…" she managed to stutter.

"Yes."

"Here…"

"Yes."

"But… they know?"

"I guess. Come on. We can talk on our way home. Xander? We are going to TALK tomorrow before school at the library! Don't be late," she said in a commending voice, before dragging poor Willow out of the door.

Xander watched them go feeling a shiver dancing up and down his spine. He was soo screwed! As the door closed behind them he turned around only to be pierced with Derek's sharp eyes. Forget screwed, he was deader than a vampire.

"Uhm… Hi uncle Derek, Nick. What are you doing here? Vacation?" he tried with his most innocent smile.

Xander stormed through the night hoping, for a change, that something would attack him. He had just spent the last two hours sitting on the couch, watching his uncle and Giles verbally going at it.

For two stuffy elder men they sure knew how to politely threaten, and insult each other not to mention the things they were implying and inferring. All perfectly civil and nice, of course.

Xander kicked a rock that was unfortunate enough to be on his path and felt a little better. Walking slowly forward he choose his next target, adding a curse in the mix and another piece of anger seemed to have melted away.

'Well' he thought. 'That works too.'

If there weren't any hungry or evil demons around, he would just have to be content with beating the shit out of unanimated objects. The next one was bigger then the others and in a recess part of his brain a weak voice was warming him of imminent pain, but he choose to ignore it.

He was just about to swing his leg when a purring voice stopped him, "I wouldn't do that, if I were you."

"Gah!" screeched Xander, turning toward the voice, ready for a fight. When he saw whom the voice belonged to he relaxed marginally. "Oh it's you, demon/spirit lady."

"Hello my pretty."

"Lord of the Rings much," he snorted.

"Lord of what?"

"Nothing, forget it. The point is that I really don't want to go through the sexual harassment thing again. So can we skip it?"

"I thought you had some extra energy that needed to disperse. Why not burn it in a non violent way. Make love, not war and all that?"

"It's really not a good time. Now or ever! Just leave me alone!"

"As you wish. I'll bid you goodbye, for now. But don't forget that I will be back my chosen one."

And with that the 'spirit' disappeared into tin air, only to reappear a second later. "Oh and there is a vampire hiding in that tree over there, waiting for a warm meal."

This time she was gone for good leaving behind the sweet smell of roses, which in Xander's opinion didn't track with the whole demon thing. 'Oh well one problem at a time' he thought, smiling fierily as he begun to walk toward the unsuspecting vampire.

The next day at school he was the center of attention. Well at least that's what it felt like with Buffy and Willow scrutinizing his every move and gesture.

Last night he was so worried about the discussion that was probably taking place in the Giles residence that he couldn't fall asleep. Well, dusting that vampire helped him relax a bit, but not enough to stop him from thinking.

He really hoped that Giles was okay. On some level he knew that his uncle and Nick would never hurt the librarian, but that doesn't mean that they couldn't tear him to shreds verbally without leaving a mark on his body.

'Okay back on topic.' He thought as he caught another worried glance send his way by Willow. As a result of his night activities he overslept and was late for his first period – which pissed off his history teacher to no end, and also to be a proud owner of a new set of very prominent bruises, that adorned his face and arms.

He could just imagine the whispered conversations going on between Buffy and Willow and although their concern warmed his heart he wasn't looking forward to the 'conversation' that they would undoubtedly have as soon as the bell rung.

For the first time in his life he prayed that the history class could go on forever, but as all good things, this one to had to came to an end. The bell rung in the middle of the professor's sentence and before he could finish it the class room cleared out.

Time to face the music.

He bagged the text book and turned around only to find himself trapped. Each girl grabbed him for one arm and started dragging him toward the library.

They got there in record time and Xander was glad that Giles was okay and his usual British self. The girls pushed him toward the surprised librarian and then stood opposite to them, with arms on their hips and a matching determined expression on their faces.

"Giles, I think we are in trouble," said Xander, then seeing the girls glare at him he amended, "Big trouble."

When the girls glare only intensify, Xander turned to Giles for support, only to find the older man looking at him with a slight smirk and raised eyebrows as if to say 'your family – your mess'.

The boy silently cursed Ripper. 'Way to choose the time to make an appearance. Don't get him wrong he was fun and all but right now Xander would kill to have the babbling tweed clad Giles at his side.'

"Traitor!" he whispered to the other man which only served to additionally amuse the man.

"Okay we are waiting. What the hell happened yesterday?" demanded Buffy.

"Not much. My uncle from SF came to visit."

"The truth Xander!" said Willow hitting him with her most powerful resolve face that she could muster. "If it was only a visit then why did they went to Giles house?"

Xander was struggling to come up with a suitable lie when he realized that it was no use, so he opted for a half truth. "My uncle is in the known about the supernatural. During my visit there he became interested in me and after I left he googled our little town and figured that there is a hellmouth beneath it."

"And what does all this have to do with Giles?"

"Well turns out that Derek and Giles had met before. When Nick run the search on our town G-man's name pooped out and they decided to get the basics from Giles before talking to me."

Buffy was already nodding her head, convinced while Willow was still frowning.

"So what was the big shout out all about?" she finally asked.

Xander sighed, he really didn't want to go there, but Willow had still the resolve face on and it wasn't like that they wouldn't find out sooner or latter.

"They found out that I was helping with patrols and slaying. They weren't very happy about it."

"Well I can understand their desire to keep you out of this," said Buffy. "So did you come to some kind of agreement or what?"

"For that you will have to ask Giles. I was there for like an hour and all they did was bark at one another. Finally I got bored and left for home."

"Alone?" asked Buffy with narrowed eyes.

"Yes alone. I am not a baby anymore. I can find my way home."

"And the bruises?"

"Former vamp – now a dust bunny."

"Okay. Still not happy with you fighting, but okay." Then she turned to the other man. "So Giles what's the what?"

"I think that this doesn't concern you. Why don't you go to your next class while I talk to Xander?"

"But we are his best friends. Shouldn't we listen to?"

"This is a personal mater. If later, Xander wants to share with you that's his choice. For now I would like to speak with him alone. Now go before you are too late and the troll catches you."

"What about Xander?" wanted to know Willow.

"I will write him a note."

They waited until the library doors closed behind the girls before Xander turned to Giles.

"So what's up? Did anything new happened after I left? Or did you guys just keep going on insulting each other?"

"For the most part. Your uncle is worried for you. He wants you to stop fighting."

"Fat chance," snorted Xander.

"Yes this is exactly what I told your uncle."

"You did?"

"Yes well, not exactly in those words but yes. I've known you for almost three years now and I know that no matter what you won't stop fighting."

"How did he take it?"

"Not well, but he understood your point."

"So he won't meddle in our things. We are safe?"

"For now. But he exposed some interesting points that I think you should consider."

Xanders eyes narrowed to a slit. "And what, pray tell, are this points?"

"You should ask him. But I want you to consider very carefully their offer before rejecting or accepting it."

"I am getting a bad feeling about this," said Xander. "Can you at least point me in the right direction?"

"Go ask your uncle, but remember it's your decision, not his or mine for that matter."

"No spoilers?"

"No spoilers. Now go to your next class."

"Yes sir."

Harris household

Xander dragged himself into the house praying that Tony wasn't home. It was one hell of a day.

First Angel got poisoned, and apparently since he needs Slayer blood to survive Buffy went after Faith only to wound her mortally before the other Slayer jumped off the roof and into a speeding away truck.

Buffy, as her usual decided to help her precious vampire and almost died in the process. Luckily she got better and even came up with a plan to stop the mayor from taking over the world. Go Buffy!

He was about to go into his room to start with the planning for the battle when a sniffle from the kitchen drew his attention. Instantly he changed direction and made a bee line toward the sound. Tony wasn't here, but there was nothing to say that he didn't leave chaos and destruction behind.

Gently prying open the kitchen door he softly called her name before entering. As soon as he stepped inside the room his mother run toward him and hugged him tightly, while sobbing into his shoulder.

His arms automatically rose to engulf her into a warm embrace, trying to soothe whatever pain was plundering her, being physical or mental. His eyes scanned the kitchen looking for possible signs of an alteration, which he didn't find. What he did found were two Legacy members comfortably sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee.

"What the hell did you do to her!" he growled reading himself for a fight.

"Sweetie." his mother managed to say between the sobs, disentangling herself from the tight embrace. "They didn't do anything. We were just talking and I become overwhelmed by my emotions. You know how I am."

Xander knew how she was. And if his mother was crying there must be a good damn reason behind it. "Right!" he snorted. "Talking about what?"

"Actually we were talking about you, honey."

"Me?" squeaked Xander, all the anger and contempt gone from his voice. "What about me?"

"Let's sit down. I have a feeling that this is going to be a long talk."

Xander allowed his mother to stir him toward the table and sat in a chair opposite the two men, his mother at this side.

"So what's going on?" he asked even if he had a pretty good idea what this intervention was all about.

The room was silent for a good minute before Derek decided to finally take the initiative. "Nick and I stopped by to say hello to your mother and she invited us for coffee. We started talking and one topic led to another…"

"You mean to say that you manipulated the conversation until it ended where you wanted it to," retorted Xander, sneer back in place.

"Alexander! This is no was to talk to our guests!"

"But mom!"

"No buts mister! They are here because they want to help you, so the least you can do is behave."

"You don't understand. You don't know…"

"You would be surprised at what I know, young man. Do you really believe that I grew up in the San Francisco Legacy house and were unaware of what was going on?"

"I can't believe this!" exclaimed Xander covering his face with his hands.

"What I can't believe is the fact that you went out night after night and fought vampires and demons with the Slayer and you never told me!"

Xander's head shoot up and he stared in horror at his mother. Did she just say the Slayer?

"How…?"

But his mother wasn't finished. Not by a long shot. "The Slayer! How did that happened? I got away from the Legacy so you would have a shot at a normal life! And what do you do? You hook up with a Slayer and her Watcher! Fighting live monsters! What were you thinking?"

"Well it's not like you volunteered information about the Legacy!" he shot back tired of being yelled at for doing the right thing.

"Because I want you safe!"

"On the top of the Hellmouth? Are you kidding me?"

His mother recoiled back like she has been struck. "Hellmouth?" she whispered, her eyes going impossibly wide.

"You, you didn't know?"

"Oh my God! I am a terrible mother," she said beginning to cry again. "Not only didn't I notice the wounds and the bruises on my son, but I lead his smack in the middle of a battle field! How could I!"

"It's okay mom. It's no big. I like helping Buffy and the gang with the patrolling and research. It's a good thing." he tried to comfort her, which made her cry even harder.

"Mom come on, don't be like this," he tried again, this time engulfing her in another embrace.

She allowed him to hold her for awhile and then she gently pushed him away. "Look at me. I am a mess," she chuckled nervously. "I need to freshen up a little. Why don't you use this time to listen to your uncle's preposition? I am sure you will find it very interesting." And with that she was gone leaving Xander alone with what he considered a fate worse than death.

"Xander, why don't you sit down?"

Defeated the boy sighed and obediently sat down on the nearest chair.

"You don't have to look like you are about to be executed," commented Nick.

"Look, it's been a long day. Can we speed this up?"

Derek noticed immediately the tired tone in the boys voice and sat up straighter, "Did something happen?"

"Nothing. So what's up?"

"After you left the house we did some digging on this town in general and you in particular…"

"Let me stop you right there," said Xander raising his arm. "Sunnydale – Hellmouth; Hellmouth – vampires, demons; vampires, demons – we fight. Can we move this along? Been there - talked about that."

"Xander you are a smart guy…"

"We had this conversation before. Can we skip to the proposition part?"

"Hey kid, watch it! We are here to help you! At least try to listen to what we are trying to tell you," bristled Nick, who had enough of the teen melodrama.

"Maybe we should came another day," suggested Derek, "I can see that you had a bad day at school."

"No wait! I'm sorry. It's just been a reaaalllllyyyy long day and I still had a shit load of stuff I need to do and I am sure that you are needed elsewhere. So give. What is this preposition of yours."

"I would like you to move to San Francisco and attend university there."

"I know that your intentions are good and all but my life is here and even if I wanted to go my grades weren't that high and if that wasn't enough I also missed the admission application."

"Things that are easily fixable if you are a guest professor at the university and a patron of the school. As for the fact that your life is here, think about all the good you could do if you had the knowledge in ancient languages, myths and such."

"Good for whom? The Watchers or the Legacy?"

"It will be your choice. Either way you could save lives and fight the good fight if that's what you want."

"So that's it? You sponsor my education and then at the end just let me go back to the opposition? Somehow I don't think it will be that easy."

"It's not opposition. Just another side of the same line of work."

"Funny, that's the same thing Giles said. You two are really alike. It explains why you don't get along."

Derek's eyes darkened. "I am nothing like him."

Xander carefully looked at him and saw rage, hatred and fear in the older mans eyes, but beneath all of it was sorrow and regret. "People change. At the time when you met him he was an angry and confused teenager that was rebelling against the future that his parents choose for him. He made mistakes. Big ones. Mistakes that cost lives. And he has been repenting ever since. Or didn't you notice the tweed wearing?" tried to joke Xander.

"You don't understand…"

"I beg to differ. I understand perfectly. He made a mistake and he is paying for it little by little. He is not the same man as before, but he isn't a Council drone either. He chose to put Buffy before the Watchers, to see her as a person and not just a killing tool that can be easily replaced, and he allowed us - me, Willow, Oz and even Cordelia to be Buffy helpers even if it went against all the crap that the Council teaches."

"And to put you in danger…"

"We are aware of the risks. We all know that we could die tomorrow, but that's our choice and he respects us enough to let us help.

"While he sits back and watches…"

"Boy you really don't know him. He is always besides us in the first line. He risks as much as we do if not more – you know he is getting a little on with the years."

Seeing as he was fighting a loosing war Derek sighed and let it drop - for now. "As interesting as this is we are going out of topic. What do you think of our preposition?"

"I need time to think about it."

"Of course, take your time. We will be right here when you decide…"

"No."

"No?"

"After Graduation I will go on a road trip. I will think about it and then let you know before the summer is over. But I have conditions and they are nonnegotiable."

"Okay let's hear it."

"If, and I stress the if, I decide to accept I need to know that at the end I can go back to my friends."

"We already said it was okay."

"Okay second one – if I need to I can leave at any time – no questions asked."

"Now wait a minute!" Nick jumped to his feet.

"Nick it's okay. So this is it?"

"No. Third I want my mother to come with us – sans Tony."

Derek run his hand over his head and leaned back in his chair. "I can offer, but in the end it's her choice."

"But you can always convince her. I am sure that you can be very convincing if you choose to be."

"I'll do my best."

"Good and now for the final condition I want to help with the Legacy."

"Are you out of your mind? It's dangerous, you could die."

"Nick!" warned his Derek. "I think that we can figure something out."

"Thank you."

"But, see as we are talking conditions I also have one."

"Fair is fair I guess. What do you want?"

"You study and work hard and you train your gift. As you are now you are vulnerable to all kinds of psychic attacks."

"I figured as much. Okay."

"So can I expect you in a couple of months?"

"I didn't say I accept. Just that if I do, I will abide to your rules."

"I see. Then I shall leave you to your work. Come on Nick," he rose from the chair and moved toward the exit, Nick close at his feet.

"Wait!" yelled Xander. "Where are you staying?"

"At the little motel out of town. Why?"

"Maybe you should head home tonight. That place isn't safe, since it's a hotel and nobody technically lives there the vampires don't need an invitation to get in."

"Don't worry. We had our own protection."

"Even if you do, your business here is done. Why wait until tomorrow to head back home?"

"But Xander that way we will miss your graduation."

"My grad… what?"

"Is there a problem?

"I … no, no problem. Just, you know – you have seen one you've seen them all. No need to waste your time."

"But it won't be a waste of time. We will see you graduate. It happens only once in a person's life. It's a memorable event."

'You have no idea just how memorable.' He thought as he banged his head against the table, while the two man left.

"Honey? Everything all right?"

"Yeah mom."

"Were are Nick and Derek?"

"They just left."

"Without saying good night? That was rude," she complained. "Oh well just as well. If I am not mistaken we have a conversation in suspension that we need to finish."

Xander stared at her for a second before he returned to banging his head against the table.

"What do you think?" asked Nick as soon as they were in the car.

"I think that for some reason he wants us out of town as soon as possible."

"You too got that impression, huh."

"I want you to discreetly follow him and find out what is going on. Something big is coming and it isn't pretty."

"Aye, aye captain."

In the next couple of days Nick followed Xander where ever he went. He observed his routine, the company he kept, the places he went and he didn't like what he saw.

He was a soldier, a trained fighter and he immediately recognized what was happening. Xander and his friends were preparing for war and this time they enlisted the help of the entire school.

Kids that should have been preparing themselves for one of the happiest moments in their lives were instead learning to wield weapons and how to fight.

Looking through the library window Nick observed the core 'Scooby' group plus another guy bending over what seemed to be a map and Xander avidly explaining something while the others nodded and asked questions from time to time.

Xander seemed very at ease in his role as the strategist which filled Nick with pride, it also scared him shitless. Whatever was coming Xander was going to be a vital part of it.

Nick started his car and drove toward his hotel.

Derek was just disconnecting his cell phone when Nick returned and threw himself tiredly on the bed.

"Was that London?" asked Nick

The percept sighed and set on the other bed. "Yes I just spoke to Slone."

"And?"

"And we are not to interfere."

"Are they out of their minds? How can we just stand there and do nothing as a bunch of kids fight for their lives whatever it is they are going against?

"These are the rules. Of course he didn't say anything about defending ourselves in the unlikely situation of an attack," finished Derek and grinned at Nick.

"Nice Boss-man. Really nice."

"Thank you. Now what did you find out?"

"Much of the same. Training, planning and plotting…" he sighed. "It's not fucking right!"

"What made you change your mind?"

"About what?"

"Before we arrived here you were very calm about Xander fighting, but since you got here your behavior changed completely."

"I guess it just finally sunk in. At the beginning when I found out about what he did I was very proud. He was brave and loyal and all the things that I value. Then little by little the reality begun to sink in. The injuries, mortality rate… It scared me to death."

"I see."

"What if he doesn't accept our offer? What if decide to stay here?"

"Don't worry, he won't do that. In the unlikely scenario that he decides to go back to Sunnydale we will just have to give him a little redirecting push in the right direction."

"Already plotting, aren't you?" snorted Nick, remembering his own reluctant joining of the Legacy.

"You know me," said Derek.

"Yeah I do," said Nick. "We better get some sleep. Tomorrow is the big day for our boy."

"Good night, Nick."

" 'Night Boss."

When Derek and Nick parked in front of the high school the next morning they found out that they were not the first ones on the scene. The Scoobies were already hard at work, carrying out of the school big boxes of what appear to be books and antique weapons.

They sat there for awhile trying to figure out what was going on when a big white van pulled to a stop and students begun to transport big sacks into the school.

Nick incredulously squinted his eyes to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.

"Is that…?"

"Yes. I believe that it's time to find out what exactly is going on," declared Derek stepping out of the car and strolling toward the school, following the students with the bomb making material, Nick hot on his heels.

The library was a mess. There wasn't any other word to describe it. Books and weapons were lying everywhere and in the mist of it all stood Giles dictating which books to save and which to leave there, while eager students filled the boxes and took the approved ones away.

Not far away from them on the set Xander rigging together what appeared to be a big home-made bomb. Cutting wires and then connecting them together in a intricate pattern that was then attached to a detonator.

"What the hell is going on here!" shouted Derek alarmed at what he saw.

The students froze in their place, unsure of what was going on. Giles scowled at the pair and was about to came up with a sharp retort when Xander jumped in. "Uncle Derek, Nick, what are you doing here?"

"As we told you we are here to see you graduate. But I think the better question is what are you doing here."

"That's…" begun Xander uncertainly, looking at Giles for help.

"This has nothing to do with you, Mr. Rayne," intervened the Watcher.

"It has when you had my nephew rig up a bomb that is obviously designed to blow up the school. Now if you would like to explain."

"This is not your business. Hellmouths are under the Watchers jurisdiction…"

"Oh for the love of God! Why don't you two throw out your manhood's and we will measure them up with a ruler!" snorted a pretty brunette.

"Cordy!" said Xander warningly.

"Oh please, as if you haven't been thinking it yourself!" she snapped at his ex then turned toward the newcomers. "The mayor is going to ascend to a true demon during the graduation ceremony. We are supposed to be the food. We will fight back. End of story! Now go away or help!"

Cordelia turned back to what she was doing before, ignoring the dead silence that reigned in the library after her little outburst. Xander sighed and he too went back to work, the other students quickly following their example.

Giles sighed tragically and monitored Derek toward his office. "Why don't we talk about this in my office?"

Nick watched the two older men disappear in a small office and then joined Xander on the floor checking the handy-work.

"Nice work! Where did you learn to do this?"

"Long story."

"We have time." Nick nodded toward the unfinished bomb.

"Okay, one Halloween I dressed up as a solder and a chaos mage – that would be Ethan Rayne – performed a spell that turned us all in our costumes. When Giles ended the spell by destroying the Janus statue I woke up with all this extra memories and skills."

"Not that long of a story."

"I suppose not."

"What about the nightmares?"

"Huh?"

"I seriously doubt that skills are the only thing that you remember."

"I deal. They are not so bad anymore," sighed Xander, then remarked: "You are taking this awfully good."

"Yeah well, seen some pretty strange things myself. It's the job, you know."

"Yeah…"

The two returned to the bomb making in silence, lost in their thoughts. Untill …

"So she your girlfriend or what?"

"WHAT!" screamed Xander, making all the room look at him. "False alarm, back to work, people. Back to work."

When the students attention dispersed to other things he turned back to Nick. "Man don't say things like that while I am making a bomb."

"Sorry," said Nick, not feeling sorry at all. "So is she or is she not?"

"You are not going to drop it are you?" At the others enthusiastic grin he sighed running a hand through his hair. "Was. It's a long story and no I am not going to talk about it even if we had the entire eternity at our disposal."

"Got it."

The Scoobies sat on the lawn in front of their former high school. The fight has been arduous and they have lost some students – and principal Snyder, but at the end they won the battle.

The two Legacy members helped too although they weren't too trilled to be working with a vampire, even one with the soul. Which, in Xander's book, gave them some serious brownie points.

After the minute silence suggested by Oz they dispersed toward their homes for a well deserved night (or two) of sleep.

Xander stumbled home and collapsed into his bed, instantly asleep a small smile playing on his lips. Tomorrow he was gonna go to his long planed and much deserved road trip.

'America here I come.' Was his last thought before Morfeous claimed him.

THE END - tbc in part 2 of Legacy family 2 – Life with the Legacy

Preview

Xander gripped the bars on the holding cell and banged his head against them. Only him. How the hell did this happen?

"If you ask nicely I can get you out," whispered a seductive voice.

Xander froze, but he didn't give out any other signs that he heard anything. He had learned the lesson the hard way. People tend to frown upon people arguing with an invisible spirit. No matter how real it was to them.

The lady spirit from that night back in Sunnydale seemed to really like him. She has been appearing sporadically to annoy the hell out of him. Sometimes she has been helpful with the info, like when he fought that Rashmash-something demon with the two hunter brothers . But he tended to be wary of that kind of help always expecting for the other shoe to drop. The demon-spirit lady wanted something from him, he just couldn't see what just yet.

But for now he just shook his head not wanting to get the attention of the others in the cell.

"You sure?" she asked. "Because the big guy down there, has been ogling your butt since you got here. Not that I can blame him, it's a very nice butt."

Xander managed to very convincingly glare at the wall outside the bars.

"Oh well be that way, but don't say I didn't warn you because here he comes," she said disappearing.

No sooner has she uttered those words a heavy hand found it's way to his backside. "Well hello. What do we have here? Is it an early present for me?" breathed into his ear a decidedly male voice.

The boy shrieked, turning around and found himself face to face with a leather clad mountain covered in tattoos.

"Hello there beautiful," smirked the mountain trapping Xander against the bars with a hand on either side of his shoulders. "First time here?"

Xanders eyes went huge. This was so not happening to him. He begun to pray to every God that he ever heard of that someone will get him out of there and for once a God was listening.

The door that lead to the outside world suddenly opened letting in the arresting officer. "Harris!" he barked. "You are free to go. The bail has been posted for you."

The mountain pouted and stepped back allowing Xander to escape through the cell door into freedom. The Scooby really didn't care who posted the bail. The important thing was that he was free again.

His euphoria didn't last long. As soon as he got into the processing room to retrieve his belongings his smile turned into a frown as he saw Nick and Derek waiting for him. This felt more and more like a set-up.


End file.
